Saotome Shinji: Final Duty
by Cloud Dancer1014
Summary: Sundance's fic is back! Sequel to mastermages's Shinji Saotome. Shinji has returned to Tokyo 3, and things are heating up. NERV's mission seems off, the motives behind his friends and comrades seem to be deeper than expected, surviving has gotten harder!
1. Prologue

Greetings from your favorite author, CloudDancer1014. I have a very special treat for you today!

This story was a joint project that me and an author known as Tellemicus Sundance worked on. It is based off mastermage's "Shinji Saotome", and is done with his blessings. Unfortunately, TS lost his motivation for this story and dropped out. However, that hasn't stopped me!

These first few chapters will be mostly TS's work. This was his brainchild for a while, so I'll not change what he has come up with so far. I'll let you know when my stuff starts coming in.

For the record, I do not own Ranma or Neon Genesis Evangelion. All I own is the computer that I write it on, and only because I won't let my creditors sell it.

Also, while I am at it, I have converted a forum into a storage center for all of my story ideas. I have yet to see anyone comment on it other than me, so please go check that out. As for my tales, expect something from Past Lives soon, followed by my Case Closed Cross. Time Traveling Martial Artists will only get updated if I can find what happened to a chapter that has disappeared on me.

One more thing! I need a volunteer for a beta! Any help would be nice, but I have another chapter of Time Traveling Martial Artist that I managed to salvage from previously lost files, and it is in desperate need of editing. Someone? Anyone?

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Tears pouring down his cheeks with all the finesse of a waterfall, Ikari Shinji's world were enveloped by a blinding white light originating from the small mirror he held.

It was with almost painful clarity that he watched as memories were dredged up randomly among the chaotic energies swirling around him and his EVA.

_On top of the bamboo poles rising out the many pools were two figures who were engaged in combat, looking for all intents and purposes like they wanted to kill each other. The fact that they were jumping impossibly high didn't escape his notice, but was just another thing to add to his newly started 'weird-things-list'_

_He stood there, transfixed by the sight before him; never had he seen such grace._

'_**If I could do that…**__' he trailed of as the boy, he looked around 16, kicked the fat man into one of the pools._

With the light came an overwhelming sense of weightlessness, as though he were floating in zero-gravity. All his senses were completely overwhelmed, even the sheering pain that was burning through his left arm and right thigh from where he'd been shot.

_With a great splash two male bodies landed in a spring._

Somehow, though vague sense of awareness, he could feel himself tumbling through space and time.

_Ranma had calmed down a lot and quickly took notice of the boy sitting in the corner, quietly watching them. "Um, my name is Saotome Ranma, what's yours?" _

_Shinji looked up and gave a meek smile. "I'm Ikari Shinji. Nice to meet you."_

That gave him a sense of bitter satisfaction. The perverted freak was right; the mirror was working!

"_Listen, old man! You will adopt him, otherwise I won't go with you anymore, and you can stick your plans up your ass!" he spoke with an uncharacteristic growl in his voice, and Genma quickly decided to abide to his wishes. His son was quite deadly when enraged. He gave a small nod._

"_Ok" he spoke in a small voice, then louder. "Ikari Shinji, I hereby make you a member of the Saotome clan!" '__**I can always knock Ranma out and leave the boy behind**__' he thought reassuringly to himself. _

_Ranma whirled around and smiled brightly at Shinji._

Looking around him, Shinji watched silently as what appeared to be wisps of smoke began to gather around him in the brightness.

_Ranma's grin got even wider. "Good! We will start your training today…" _

_Somehow Shinji had a foreboding sense of doom when Ranma gave him a change of clothes to put on._

Memories continued to race through his mind as the smoke began to slowly condense.

_Shinji cocked his head to the right. "Somehow I have a feeling that's not the only reason you're here, is it?" _

"_Of course not. We came here searching for husbands." _

_Shinji's eyes narrowed. "You should know that you won't get Ranma!" _

_Cologne cackled. "Oh, you shouldn't worry so much about your brother. He's not the only one we're hunting. On that note, let me introduce you to some of your greatest fans. SPICE, PEPPER!" _

_Shinji nearly dropped his groceries in shock when the meaning of Cologne's words finally sank in. '__**This has to be a joke!**__'_

_Then he noticed that the girls whom he had watched earlier were looking at him strangely. It was a look that made him very uneasy. Both girls drew their swords and started running towards him. "I'll make you mine!" _

_Shinji's eyes bugged out. "Uh OH!"_

Tears of bitter sorrow and weak amusement continued falling from his eyes. The gathering clouds were steadily beginning to block out the bright light.

_Shinji shifted on his feet. This had to be one of the most awkward moments in his life. _

_Kaori shifted on her feet as well. This was the most awkward moment in her life. _

_After nearly two minutes Shinji, being more used to these situations, was the first to speak. "Guess that's means we're fiancées now?"_

What was once a blinding bright light was now only dull haze of gray. The clouds of time were steadily darkening, encompassing the traveler as he neared his arrival.

"_I take it Ranma has already told you about the full body cat's tongue?" _

_Several nods confirmed Shinji's question. _

"_Well, let's just say he isn't the only one with that little problem now." _

_Stunned silence followed that statement._

That vague sense of awareness told him that he was 'slowing down' as the light began to fade.

_"Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken!"_

As darkness was now filling in around him, he could slowly feel his normal senses beginning to return to him. The brief respite he'd gotten from the terrible bullet wounds was too rapidly returning to him.

_After Shinji finished talking Happosai nodded his head thoughtfully. "Well, seeing how that purple ugly thing on TV isn't explained away that easily I'm ready to believe you. The question is, what do you want to do now?" _

_"Go in there, bust a few heads, and get Unit 01 out, of course!" Ranma said with his usual arrogance._

Finally gravity returned, pulling Shinji's injured body to the bottom of the Unit 01's entry plug.

"_Get up you two. Time for the next try." Cologne informed them from the branch she was standing on with a tone that betrayed how much she was enjoying this._

'_I hate my life' thought both Saotomes at the same time as they dragged their beaten and bruised bodies up into standing positions to continue training._

_That day Ranma and Shinji learned something very important:_

_Impacting a boulder is very painful._

_Impacting a boulder without being prepared was very, very, __**very **__painful._

Where a blinding light had once dominated all his senses, an overpowering blackness had replaced it.

_Thinking it over again Shinji nodded decisively. "I think the problem is I have too much power and not enough skill. That's why the training isn't so hard at the moment. My mind is playing catch up with my body!"_

Shinji didn't know or care how long he sat there in darkness. All that he cared about was watching the remaining few memories he had left. They were all he had left to remind him of all he had done and whom his life had been so thoroughly entangled with for the past few months. The tears that had been raining down his face slowly stopped and dried, leaving trails down his cheeks.

_If Kasumi and Nabiki intended to tag along…well, then Shinji had to ditch everyone but the person he needed to get back to his own world. It was sneaky and despicable behavior to leave everyone like that, but at that point Shinji thought it necessary._

_Getting Happosai's cooperation took no more than being groped in various pieces of lingerie in female form, which brought him back to the present: Running towards the nearest train-station in the middle of the night to meet his grandmaster, who had assured him they could get into the military base by themselves._

Slowly, he became aware of a weak noise. It was coming from outside the darkness that was his prison and sanctuary. Vaguely, from somewhere in his earlier memories, he knew that the noise sounded familiar.

"_Don't worry, your companion is okay, I only knocked him out. If you do what I want, no one will be hurt." He told her, forcing his voice to stay level with every shred of his will, knowing full well that he wouldn't hurt her even if she did not do what he wanted. The trick was to make her believe otherwise._

_Slowly he removed his hand from her mouth, but kept a firm grip on her arm._

"_Now, show me the way to the giant robot."_

The noise was a voice. A voice filled with hope, fear, and desperation. It was calling his name over and over again, but he made no attempt to answer it.

"_You idiots. Don't shot from down here! If you hit the opening mechanism we may never get it open!"_

_Whoever said that seemed to have some authority, because the guards did as told and started following after him. Shinji could not help but snicker, despite the situation. __**Thanks, whoever the hell you are.**_

_Another five steps brought Shinji before the code-pad, his fingers hammering in the 40 characters needed to open the door. The armored hatch opened with a satisfying hiss, and a moment later the entry-plug appeared, winding its way out of the EVA's spine._

"_He opened it!" he heard the disbelieving mechanic that had ordered the guards to stop shooting, shout. "Shoot him!"_

The entry plug hatch's was finally pulled open, blinding light poured into the darkened interior, momentarily blinding the pilot.

"Shinji!" a familiar voice cried. "Are you alright?"

His vision clearing, Shinji gazed up at a face he'd not seen in months. It was Major Katsuragi Misato, his commander and supervisor while he worked for NERV in Tokyo-3. She had tears streaming down her cheeks as she stared down worriedly at him, waiting for some kind of reply.

Shinji just continued to stare blankly up at her, his mind still vividly attached to the images and memories that had comforted him for the past few hours. He was only partially paying attention as Misato threw herself at him, hugging his still form tightly.

As Misato continued her teary embrace of him, Shinji quickly felt his earlier exhaustion finally catching up to him. The pain in his body was still very much present and burning no less fiercely that it had when he'd left. After awakening at three o'clock in the morning, sprinting several dozen miles after hitchhiking a ride on a train, infiltrating a heavily guarded military base, and being shot several times before finally reaching his EVA and 'transporting' it safely away, he was very, _very _tired.

_I didn't even get to say goodbye to any of them_, he realized miserably. In a voice just loud enough for Misato to hear, he whispered, "I just…wanted to see them…one more time…" Finally giving into his body's yearning, Shinji's mind slowly slipped into blissful unconscious.

But before he'd fully been enveloped by its comforting shadows, another familiar voice decided to make itself known. With her usual rough and commanding tone, Asuka snidely demanded, "Weren't you going to _punish_ him?"

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Dr. Akagi Ritsuko and Commander Ikari Gendo both stood in front of Unit 01. The purple behemoth was currently being rinsed of the Angel's blood that had so thoroughly coated it. Both of the two leading personnel of NERV were wrapped up in their own thoughts as they stared up the purple monster before them.

All Commander Ikari could see as he stared at the thing was the beautiful face of his long-lost wife. He had tried everything he could and still she remained trapped inside that creature's bowels. But now as he gazed upon it, he couldn't help but question. Did she have something to do with Unit 01 somehow tearing itself out of the Angel that had consumed it and Shinji?

That would mean that his theory and hopes had been correct all along. His dear wife was still alive inside that thing! His determination to free her just continued to grow with every passing moment he took staring up at the EVA.

Dr. Akagi, however, was beset by some far different thoughts. When Unit 01 had torn its way free, the sight of the blood-drenched EVA had chilled her to her very soul. And yet, as terrifying as the EVA was, something else was bugging her. And if there was one thing she disliked, it was not understand something.

Several things had been discovered when they'd finally managed to get Unit 01 safely back inside the NERV headquarters and recovered Shinji. Gone was the plugsuit Shinji had worn when he left to battle the Angel. The boy had somehow acquired a white Chinese-styled shirt with a pair of black pants, simple shoes, and he had a small mirror clutched tightly in his hand.

But the missing suit and Shinji's new attire wasn't the only confusing thing either. It had been quickly noticed that someone or something had been tampering Unit 01 at some point. Several pieces of its armor had been removed and were missing, and there were also signs of tampering around the entry plug as well. As though someone had been trying to take the EVA apart.

Not only that, but it was discovered by the doctors who were cleaning and tending to the wounds that the boy had somehow acquired that Shinji had also acquired incredible new amounts of muscle mass. No more was he just an average, yet very scrawny teenager, he had grown muscles all over and it gave him the appearance of a dedicated martial artist from the days before Second Impact.

"I will expect a full report on my desk tomorrow," Gendo said, snapping Ritsuko from her contemplations. "I want to know what happened to Unit 01 and the Third Child to put them into such states."

If he had been anyone else, Ritsuko might've thought that he was concerned for his son's wounds. But she knew that he only wanted to know if what had happened would have some kind of adverse effects on his plans.

"Yes, sir," she said, returning her gaze to the purple behemoth that was still being heavily bathed. "I'll have it ready as soon as I can."

Oh yes, she was _very_ interested in what Shinji would have to say about all this!

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Slowly, consciousness returned to the boy. For a moment, he wondered why it was so quiet. Surely with Ranma and Akane in the same house, there'd at least be some senseless bickering going on right? Or there'd be sounds of fighting as Ranma and Genma or Ryoga went about their daily training in their arts. And why didn't he smell any of Kasumi's wonderful cooking either? That young lady was positively impossible to keep away from the kitchen and he should know since he'd tried several times in the past few months.

Opening his eyes, Shinji saw an unfamiliar ceiling above him. The room was as quiet as a tomb, but it was far from being as dreary. The walls were perfectly measured and painted a bright white, seemingly glowing from the light that was streaming in through the large windows to his left side.

Movement from that side quickly caught Shinji's attention, what he saw quickly brought a flash of memories screaming through his mind. There, sitting quietly beside his bed, was Ayanami Rei in her usual school uniform. But if she was here, that would mean that…he was back in his original world and time.

Rei quickly noticed that he was awake and staring at her. The two of them just stared at one another in silence for a moment. Rising into a sitting position, Shinji easily ignored his bandaged wounds. They were nothing more than a dull ache at this point, a type of pain that he had grown very accustomed to after training with the greatest martial artists he'd ever met for several months.

"It's okay," Rei said, a hint of a comforting tone in her voice. "You can rest today. We will take care of everything."

"But…I feel just fine," he said, speaking just as quietly as her.

Since Shinji was currently staring at the bandage covering his left elbow, he failed to see the ghost of a smile that crossed Rei's face as he said that. She could easily see that something had changed about the young Ikari, not just his slightly longer hair or new muscles. His character had…matured somehow.

"Well," she said quietly, a hint of affection in her tone. "That's good for you."

Standing up, she made to leave. Now that he had recovered consciousness, Dr. Akagi would likely put him through a thorough series of tests and demand some kind of report on how he'd come to be injured.

"Rei?" Shinji's voice brought her to a halt just before the door. "…it's nice to see you again."

Rei didn't reply or turn around. But if she had, Shinji would've seen the tiniest of smiles come across her face at that moment. But when she'd pressed the button to open the door, surprising an eavesdropping Asuka in the process, Rei's face had returned to its usual cool indifference.

After the door closed behind Rei, Shinji couldn't help but chuckle quietly at Asuka. He knew her pride forbade her of ever showing concern for anyone other than herself or those she'd somehow deemed worthy of her time. And after her countless cries of disgust, distrust, and outright hatred towards Shinji, she most certainly couldn't bring herself to properly check up on his well-being. Hiding behind doors and walls, listening in on other peoples' conversations, was the only way she'd allow herself to show any concern for him or others.

In a way, it was how Akane had been around Ranma in the first few months that they'd lived with the Tendo family.

Glancing around the room, Shinji spotted a pile of clothes neatly folded upon the bedside table. He instantly recognized the blood-stained shirt and pants as the ones that he'd been wearing as he stormed the military base to reach his EVA. Resting peacefully atop the bundle was the small mirror that he'd been given by Happosai. The sight of that mirror brought a weak smile to his face.

Reaching out, he grabbed the small instrument with all the loving grace as though it were made of extremely fragile glass. His weak smile reflected back up at him as he gazed into the mirror.

'_It worked, Ranma_.' he thought quietly. '_It worked...I'm back._"

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Coming up: More of TS's excellent writing, whenever I get around to posting it. My portion will be coming soon!


	2. Chapter 1

This is Cloud Dancer1014, back in action!

Progress is going great on my research, and I may be able to start my own addition to this wonderful story. Until then, I will sparingly ration out the first four chapters of Saotome Shinji. Sorry, but I hate it when people make a story and don't update it within half a year, and this is my way of keeping myself from doing the same.

I own nothing, not even this chapter. It belongs to Sundance. Gainax owns NGE.

Please check out my poll, and tell me which idea I should prioritize. Thanks!

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**Saotome Shinji: Final Duty**  
By: Tellemicus Sundance  
_Chapter 2: The New Shinji_

Shinji was a _terrible_ liar, that was the purest and simplest fact of the universe. He could no sooner convince a person to believe a simple lie (like he'd done all his homework) than he could suddenly sprout wings and fly. However, due to his recent training with the Saotomes, learning several secret Amazon techniques, and training with the Grandmaster of the Anything Goes Martial Arts Style, Shinji had learned various ways of making it _seem_ like he could fly.

In other words; while he could not tell a lie to save his life, he had become something of a master in telling half-truths (which had become an indescribably valuable skill when dealing Tendo Soun and Saotome Genma). This skill had not only once helped him to convince Soun and Genma to start up teaching in the dojo again, but had also saved Ranma's life when his own mother had expected him to commit seppuku when she learned of his curse to turn into a girl.

Though he wasn't the smartest person, Shinji had known ever since he'd decided to return to his original time and world that no one would easily and readily accept his story like the Tendos and Saotomes had: that he'd somehow been blown across time and possibly dimensions for several months before he managed to find and recover his EVA and return back to his 'home-world.' He knew that Dr. Akagi would have him committed to a mental institute and remove him from piloting Unit 01, and that was in the _best_ case scenario. Thus Shinji had been steadily crafting a cover story for the past two months alone.

So here he sat at the moment of truth in Dr. Akagi's office. He had just finished a grueling _four-hour _physical examination to ensure that he didn't receive any adverse effects from his time in the Angel. Though he was very nervous about the imminent interrogation, Shinji didn't allow any of his unease to show on his face or in his body language, like he would've prior to his stay with Ranma.

"So, Shinji," Ritsuko began as she switched one clipboard for another.

_Here it comes…_

"What happened while you were inside the Angel?"

It took only a moment's hesitation for Shinji to quickly gather his thoughts before he answered. "I don't really know, Dr. Akagi," he answered. "One moment I was inside the entry plug, the next moment I was…somewhere else."

"Where?" Ritsuko asked demandingly yet somehow gently.

Suppressing a small smirk that wanted to escape, he answered truthfully. "China."

"China?" her expression showed neither amusement nor disbelief, just annoyance.

"Yeah, then I was found by a pair of martial artists who allowed me to travel and train with them," Shinji continued, not caring that she didn't seem to believe him. Raising his arm, he pulled back the sleeve to expose the obvious muscle on his bicep. "That's how I got so strong." Lowering his arm, he continued resolutely. "I spent at least nine months with them before I was able to find Unit 01 in a military base in Japan. I had to sneak inside and use a magic mirror to teleport Unit 01 and myself back here."

Ritsuko just stared at him for a moment, a rather peculiar look on her face. He could easily see that she was trying to decipher what was the truth and what was just useless dribble from an obviously mentally-unstable child.

"However," Shinji said in closing, his face dropping towards the floor in an attempt to not only hide his honestly hurt expression but to also convey the air of painful admittance. "I don't think any of it was _real_…"

That quiet statement brought only a small twitch of Ritsuko's brow before she let out a small sigh of relief. Turning back to her clipboard, she quickly jotted down a few notes before turning back to him. "So, what do you think? That it was an illusion of some kind?"

"That's the only thing I could come up with," Shinji quietly answered, honesty singing loudly in his voice.

"I see," Ritsuko said, once again scribbling lightly on her clipboard. After a moment of thinking, she nodded to herself and turned back to her patient. "What makes you think it was just an illusion, Shinji?"

"It was…so surreal and fantastic," the Third Child replied, a small bitter smile pulling at his lips. "I often found myself wishing I could just stay there…It was so…peaceful and happy."

"And yet, you came back," Ritsuko pressed, wanting as much information as she could get. "Why?"

"One of the friends I made taught me something," Shinji said, his bitter smile still in place. "That a life without honor is not worth living. He made me realize that I have a responsibility to protect Earth from the Angels. If I didn't try to come back and finish it, I would be not only dishonoring myself but also leaving NERV with one less pilot and EVA."

"…That's very noble of you, Shinji," Ritsuko said quietly, not quite sure what to feel about the boy's proclamation. Though he hadn't raised his voice, the sheer amount of conviction in his tone was staggering. Her earlier impression that something had happened to Shinji had just been proven correct. But just to what extent had the boy been changed? "How long did it take you to figure out that you were in an illusion?"

"Almost immediately," Shinji said, his voice returning to its earlier quiet but firm tone. "But because I had no idea what was happening to me at first, I had no idea how to escape it."

"And that mirror you mentioned was the key?" Ritsuko asked, _very_ skeptical of that detail.

"While I was there, I discovered that there was something…different about the mirror," Shinji said, once again switching to telling a half-truth. "I had to take it from the original owner who had used it to transport himself to different places all over the Earth. I suspected that it was the only way to bring back here…I was _very_ lucky that it worked."

"And how did you acquire those bullet wounds?" The frown that had been tugging at the doctor's lips since the beginning of the interrogation finally found its way onto her face.

Shinji was quiet for a moment, staring blankly into space as he collected his thoughts. The faux-blonde waited slightly impatiently for the boy to bring words to his memories.

"I had learned some time afterwards that Unit 01 had been discovered by the Japanese government," Shinji finally said, his gaze still somewhat unfocused. "I knew that they would attempt to dismantle the EVA so they could learn its secrets and build their own. By then, I had already been training under my martial arts instructor for some time. I had to explain to him the truth of what happened to me and he agreed to help me get Unit 01 back…After some very…_intense_ training, we found the base that Unit 01 was being kept. While my companion distracted the guards, I snuck in through the 'backdoor' and recovered the EVA but…"

"That's how you ended up getting shot eh?" Ritsuko commented, picking up where Shinji had trailed off as she once again began marking a series of notes onto her clipboard. "I take that all this 'training' you went through is where you get so strong then?"

"Hai," Shinji's reply was immediate and without even the faintest stutter. That only reinforced Ritsuko's conclusion that he was telling the truth on _that_ matter.

Nodding and putting some more notes down, she turned back to Shinji and said, "I think that's all. You can go now, Shinji. And tell Major Katsuragi to _try_ to drive responsibly for once."

"Hai," he said as he lightly bounced off the examination table. As he was walking towards the door to change back into some of his old clothes, he smiled slightly as he said aloud, "Though I doubt she'll even try."

Ritsuko blinked and glanced over at Shinji in time to see him look back and give her a rueful grin. Then the door hissed closed behind him, leaving her alone with only her thoughts. It wasn't until three minutes later that Ritsuko finally noticed something she hadn't before.

Shinji hadn't apologized _once!_

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Walking through the halls of NERV was like walking out of a long, pleasant dream and finding oneself back in the common, cold and cruel reality that is everyday life. At least that was Shinji's honest opinion as he trudged his way back towards the entrance of the base. He had never liked it here, even before his trip to the past, but now he truly despised it.

This entire base was like a prison, containing only sorrow, madness, and barely-restrained hostility. Plus, there was something…wrong with it. He wasn't sure what, but something was playing along the outer reaches of his senses. A feeling of power, terror, and evil seemed to vibrate through the very walls and saturated the air. It was an awful and unclean feeling that Shinji desired to escape from as quickly as he could. When compared to clean and generally happy (if somewhat chaotic) environment that surrounded his brother, Shinji found himself wishing to return to his _real_ family with the Tendos and Saotomes. But that would be running away, wouldn't it?

"Shinji!" a familiar woman's voice called out ahead of him.

Looking up as he exited the front doors, Shinji found himself staring at the beauty that was his supervisor. Misato was leaning nonchalantly against her beloved blue car, smiling and waving up at him. It was a scene that caused mixed emotions to rise up inside the teenager before he finally settled for happy appreciation. Misato had always been one of his pillars of strength while he'd been in Tokyo-3, always encouraging him to do better and always comforting him as best she could whenever he fell into another depression. She was as much his mother and an older sister to him as Ranma had been an older brother and his martial arts sensei.

"Come on, Shinji!" the woman called out, slight impatience in her voice. "I ordered take-out in about five minutes! We're gonna be late!"

Quickly hopping down towards the car, Shinji smiled ruefully at the woman as she quickly got back inside the car. "With the way you drive, Misato-san?" he said, his smile not waning in the least. "That doesn't seem too likely."

"What's that suppose to mean?" Misato asked, trying to sound insulted and failing miserably.

Climbing into the seat and securely buckling the safety belt, he answered, "Only that you're a near-homicidal psychopath when behind a driver's wheel!"

The fact that he had said all that while continuing to wear the endearing smile of his was the only reason Misato could not take any insult to his accusation. She just glanced at him in slight surprise, quickly realizing that he just made a joke. And judging from the smile on his face, he was well aware of that he had just done so and seemed to be enjoying himself. This was far from being the Shinji that she had been expecting to drive home. An even more reclusive and near-mute boy who'd most likely have fallen into even deeper levels than his usual depression was the boy she'd been anticipating. Not a seemingly confident and even happy teenager who was actually trying to contribute to a conversation.

"Hm, maybe we are going to be late after all," Shinji said, quickly noticing her stare. He gave her that rueful grin of his again before staring out the passenger side window as his face flushed.

"Gah, the take-out!" Misato cried as she started the engine. Flooring the gas pedal, she nearly rammed into a passing truck. Pulling ahead, she leaned partially out her window as she screamed at the startled driver, "Look out, you pansy-ass!"

If Misato had been paying a little bit more attention to her passenger instead of the her usual road games, she'd have been very surprised that he didn't cry out in fear a single time for the next sixteen near-misses they'd had (but who was counting?). Instead, Shinji just sat in a semi-relaxed slouch as she weaved her way through traffic. After all the near-death experiences that Genma and Ranma had put him through (whether intentionally or not), a little drive with Misato was almost as trivial as a walk through the park.

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Asuka, for all her boasts and proclamations of her own greatness, was an extremely insecure child. After the trauma she had gone through early in her childhood, she had gone through an extremely severe depression that still haunted her to this very day.

As she grew older, Asuka had learned to hide her fears and depression by bolstering her skills to far greater levels than she was truly capable of. At the top of this skill list was her natural skill of piloting Unit 02. That skill had been her one true source of pride, the only thing that had prevented her from giving into her depression and committing suicide. And since she was currently one of only three children in the entire world who had this skill, arguably the best pilot of the three, she often used this fact to always put herself up on a pedestal above everyone else in the world, believing she was more deserving of everything than nearly anyone else.

Then news of the Third Child had begun circling. During his first time inside Unit 01, he had not only successfully piloted it, but had also slain an Angel that had nearly killed 'Wondergirl,' a.k.a. the First Child. That was a feat that Asuka could never boast of doing, since she'd been training in her EVA for nearly her entire life. When she had met Ikari Shinji for the first time, she had had no idea of what to expect and so she was very uneasy.

His quiet, meek personality was nearly the polar opposite of her own. While she hid her fears behind a twelve-foot wall of boasts and arrogance, Shinji wallowed in his misery and self-damnations. She had been fast to realize that was the type of person he was, and thus she had found herself greatly relieved since it meant that she could assert her dominance over him and he would likely not retaliate except in the most extreme circumstances.

However, still feeling threatened by him, Asuka had done nearly everything in her power to belittle and downplay his role in helping to kill the various Angels that they'd fought together since then. Admittedly, Shinji was very cute. Had he not been the Third Child, Asuka _might've_ even considered giving him the extremely rare privilege of taking her out on a date.

And yet, throughout the course of the time they'd known each other, Shinji's sync ratio had been steadily rising and her own was dropping. This knowledge horrified her. If she was not anything but the _best,_ then what was her purpose of living this life? But for as much as she despised the boy for constantly making her look bad, Asuka wouldn't have wanted him to die. He was just too nice (though she'd _never_ admit it)! She had even begun to grow fond of his damn 'I'm-so-pathetic' act for reasons besides him submitting to her own superiority.

Alas, when Unit 01 had been captured in that Angel and all contact with Shinji had been lost, she had been just as fearful as everyone else (though she hid it well). Asuka had been extremely happy to see him freed and saved. But something was very wrong with the boy. There were so many inconsistencies between the way he acted before he was captured and after he'd gotten out.

As she watched him enter the apartment with Misato, both of them were carrying take-out bags and were in the midst of some kind of petty argument. The Shinji that she had come to know so well never _ever_ had an argument with anyone about anything, unless he had no other choice. He never _ever_ smiled that small but silly grin as he traded one insinuating comment for a minor insult. And he had never _ever_ laughed out loud so freely whenever Misato so much as hinted at teasing him. It was as unnatural as talking fish or flying pigs. This new Shinji was a completely different person!

And it instantly terrified her.

"Alright, who are you and what have you done to the wuss?" Asuka demanded fiercely, glaring at the stranger in front of her.

"Nice to see you too, Asuka-chan," Shinji replied, a strange grin pulling at his lips. As though he were being reminded of some kind of private joke to which she was the basis of.

"Don't call me that!" she snapped hotly. "What's got you in such a good mood, Third? Last I recall, it was _your_ pathetic ass that got swallowed."

"I guess I woke up on the right side of the bed," Shinji said, his grin turning into a warm smile as he deposited the food onto the table with Misato's bag. "I hope you're in the mood for ramen, Asuka-chan. Misato was feeling cheap tonight."

"I heard that, Shinji!" the purple-haired woman called from where she was bowed in front of the refrigerator, fishing for her ever-present beer.

"The point still stands, Misato," Shinji said, continuing to smile as he headed towards the bathroom. Asuka watched his back the whole time, as though expecting some kind of sneak attack.

Something had happened to that boy. It had to have been something dramatic to have all but erased the boy she used to know in matter of a few hours. This new person was far too confident and at ease to be the Shinji of days past. This would require extreme observation to find out what had happened to him.

And she vowed to figure out just what that was.

**O**oooooooooo**OOOOOOOOOO**oooooooooo**OOOOOOOOOO**oooooooooo**OOOOOOOOOO**oooooooooo**O**

With the door to the bathroom firmly closed and locked behind him, Shinji turned and stared at the sink in front of him. For a long moment, he continued to stare at the faucet, as though it were a ferocious beast that was thinking about attacking him. He raised his hand towards the cold water valve, but he quickly lowered it…several times over.

Did he dare tempt fate?

Yet he had to know. All his strength, speed, and stamina that he had acquired over his time training with the Saotomes had followed him home. Was it possible that a particular water-based curse had also accompanied him back? So far, he had either been extremely lucky that it hadn't been triggered yet, or the grand revelation of it was just being postponed. While he was never truly one of the more superstitious people out there, he had grown very weary of anything that was related to water due to his Saotome-curse.

Should he tempt fate by thrusting his hand under the water and triggering his curse? Perhaps it was merely being withheld until that fateful first splash, before his luck of being a water-magnet returned to him?

Gulping back his fear and hesitation, Shinji let out a small sigh of resolve. It would be better to be prepared than to live in fear of something he wasn't even sure was there…right?

Turning on the coldwater valve, he watched the running water for a moment, feeling a terrible weight descending into the pit of his stomach as he brought his hand up. Closing his eyes, he took a breath and thrust his hand into the water…

**O**oooooooooo**OOOOOOOOOO**oooooooooo**OOOOOOOOOO**oooooooooo**OOOOOOOOOO**oooooooooo**O**

Back in the kitchen, Misato and Asuka were eating their dinner in relative peace. Misato was happily chugging her third beer can down, slowly coming to feel a little tipsy as the alcohol enhanced her relief and happiness at having her beloved Shinji back safe and sound in her apartment. Asuka was just moodily picking at her meal; it wasn't that she didn't like ramen, she just loved lasagna and other normal German foods.

"AH!" Misato exclaimed happily after draining the can dry. Reaching over, she ruffled the Red Devil's hair affectionately. "Yeah! This is the life, my little sweetie!"

"Don't touch me!" Asuka snapped, immediately swatting Misato's hand away as she tried to straighten her hair back the way she liked it.

"Aw, don't be like that, Asuka-chan," Misato purred slightly, smiling almost impishly. "Tonight is a happy night! You guys killed another Angel, Shinji got out safe and sound, and I get my beer! What more could you possibly want?"

"Kaji," the redhead answered, her eyes shining with lust.

"Argh, don't even say his name!" Misato growled, her good mood slightly hampered by the name of the one she despised most. "Now look what you've done! Gone and ruined-"

"_AW, __**COME ON!**_" A _very_ loud female voice screamed from the bathroom suddenly, catching two girls in the kitchen by surprise.

"Shinji?" Misato called out, quickly growing alert despite the large amount of alcohol in her system. Climbing to her feet, she hurried towards the bathroom with Asuka hot on her heels. "What's wrong? Who was that screaming just now?"

"Is there a girl in there!" Asuka demanded loudly, scooting past Misato and kicking the door open without knocking.

Shinji was standing in front of the sink with his hand under the running faucet. There was an almost panicked look in his eyes as he was turning to face the intruding girls. But that look passed so quickly from his face that it left Asuka and Misato thinking that they'd somehow imagined it. Instead, his face lit up like a red beacon.

"HAVEN'T YOU EVER HEARD OF KNOCKING?" Shinji yelled, his face somehow turning even redder. "WHAT IF I'D BEEN NAKED? KAMI-SAMA, HAVE YOU NO _DECENCY?_"

"WHO ARE YOU TO TALKING ABOUT _DECENCY?_" Asuka shot back, mirroring his volume perfectly. Looking around for the intruding female, she continued, "THERE'S A GIRL IN HERE, ISN'T THERE? WHERE'S THE DAMN _BITCH_, SHINJI? AND WHAT'S WITH ALL THE SCREAMING?"

Ignoring the stuttering boy as he futilely tried to close the door and attain his privacy again, Asuka walked resolutely into the bathroom and began to literally tear it to pieces in her search for the bitch who'd dare intrude into her domain.

Misato just hung back in the hall and watched as Shinji tried to convince Asuka that no one else was in the room besides him. Though it was clear that he was telling the truth, Misato couldn't help but notice that he was still wearing a very deep blush every time he mentioned this fact. Knowing Shinji as well as she did, she could immediately see that he was hiding something. It was written all over his _bright red _face. Maybe after Asuka finally gave him so peace (preferably after the girl went to sleep), she would have to ask Shinji about what he was trying to hide.

"Where is the slut, Third?" Asuka demanded as she was hurriedly looking through the window.

"Why do you even care if there was a girl in here or not?" Shinji asked, feeling very exasperated. Asuka was acting like Akane when she was feeling particularly jealous about something, usually related to Ranma. How could Ranma put up with the youngest Tendo when she was- "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you're jealous, Asuka-chan."

Asuka came to an abrupt halt in her search, shooting Shinji an almost deer-in-the-headlights look. Then her face instantly colored, whether from embarrassment or anger or both was debatable. Lashing out, she screamed, "WHAT DID YOU SAY?"

Her hand hit Shinji's cheek with all the strength she could muster. She had been hoping on knocking him into the wall, and leaving a very nice handprint on his cheek for slandering her in such a way. But what she got instead was something very different.

It felt as though she'd just hit rock with her bare hand! What was worse, Shinji didn't even flinch from the blow! The only shining solace she could feel as she cradled her screaming hand was that he was developing a small but noticeable red mark where she had hit him.

"Good thing I know better than that," Shinji remarked almost casually, as he idly rubbed his cheek.

Before anymore could be said, Shinji's stomach growled quite loudly, causing a small flush of the boy's face in embarrassment. Turning, he quickly made his escape into the kitchen for his evening meal. In his mind, Shinji was quietly thanking the old ghoul for putting him through that Amazonian torture known as the Bakusai Tenketsu training. Otherwise, he would most definitely have ended up lain flat on his ass from that blow Asuka had just given him!

O**oooooooooo**OOOOOOOOOO**oooooooooo**OOOOOOOOOO**oooooooooo**OOOOOOOOOO**oooooooooo**O

It was a pathetically easy task to accomplish, even without the use of the Umisenken, for Shinji to slip out of the apartment at four in the morning and not be noticed by the infamously incompetent Section 2. The fact that he was currently a blue-haired female, whose beauty was only outshone by her sibling of another dimension, also helped her in making her escape.

The reason for her early rising was simple: it was a second nature now. After living and training with the Saotomes for so long, waking up before dawn's rays had even reached the horizon to start some early morning stretches and sparring had just naturally become a part of who she was. Even though it was a welcomed change to not be awakened by being thrown into the koi pond by his adopted father, it felt almost alien to him to not have the great panda be there to rouse him. He almost missed it…_almost_.

Shinji was now sitting in a small park near the apartment, doing a few stretches to loosen up her taunt muscles. As she pulled her leg back at a rather unnatural angle, she savored the silent screams of her quads as they were awakened before switching to the other leg.

Once her leg stretches were done, she quickly rolled over and shot through one hundred push-ups. The speed and ease of which she did those hundred would've put even the strongest man to shame. Pushing lightly with her feet, she bounced into a handstand and curled one hand behind her back, balancing easily on her remaining arm before doing another hundred push-ups with each arm respectively.

Jumping to her feet, Shinji launched herself into the first kata of the Muabetsu Kakuto Ryu. It was a very swift, but flowing kata, almost like a dance due to the number of twists and turns a person had to make.

That was actually what made the Saotome Muabetsu Kakuto Ryu so potent: their evasion skills were second to none, and they knew how to take a hit from every conceivable position or angle. Shinji may have only been an intermediate in terms of skill with the style (nowhere near either Genma or Ranma) but his body's naturally high amount of stamina and chi more than made up the difference. When he had first started training with the Saotomes, he could scarcely even keep up with them when they were just doing a 'light' exercise. By the time that he'd left, he could usually give Ranma and Ryoga a good workout, but he was still only half as strong as either of those two.

Finishing the first kata, Shinji quickly flowed into a second one without even pausing to consider her actions. She didn't even notice the transition as her mind was still occupied by her thoughts.

Training with Ranma and Genma had taught Shinji a lot of discipline, both physical and mental. The physical conditioning he received naturally as part of the training. But the mental conditioning was a long and tedious process; scars that had long since been cut deeply into his psyche were exposed, analyzed, and slowly they had finally begun to heal thanks to his pseudo-father and brother, friends and fiancées' efforts.

Kaori. Pepper and Spice. Nabiki. Just the thought of them sent his heart into a fierce ache. All of them were his friends and proud young women whom he had come to hold very dearly in his heart. Though he hated himself for doing it, he knew it was for the best that he didn't have the chance to say goodbye to any of _them_.

If he had tried, either they would've forced him to bring them with him, or they'd have tried to stop him from acting prematurely on their overall plan of getting Unit 01 back. And it was probably for the best that he had never been able to make up his mind about which one of them he'd liked the most. The sad fact was that he just couldn't. He loved them all, as friends, sisters, and lovers alike.

As she was in the midst of her third kata, a sixth sense warned Shinji that she was being watched and snapped her from her musings. Without breaking from her kata, she discreetly glanced around for the one who was watching her. It was only then that Shinji realized that she'd lost track of time. The sun had risen into the sky and was shining its beautiful light down upon the slowly awakening world under it. Still it was too early for too many people to be out yet, so who was it?

It was over by the small park's fountain where she spotted her silent observer. It took only a moment for her to recognize the boy, though that was only because he had that damned recorder in front of his face.

Aida Kensuke_…SHIT!_

Halting her kata, Shinji quickly enveloped herself with her chi while dropping low to the ground. Using all her speed, Shinji dashed out of the park and hid atop a nearby building's roof, watching as her old friend let out a cry of surprise and elation. The hormonal teenager dashed into the park, to the very spot that the blue-haired beauty had previously occupied and was looking around almost desperately for the girl.

That was the secret of Shinji's improved version of Genma's Umisenken technique. In Genma's original technique, the user merely had to 'internalize' their emotions. Since many of the martial artists that they encountered had some degree of a danger sensory perception, Genma had discovered a way to sneak up on them by hiding his emotions and thus his presence.

During his training in the technique, Shinji had quickly grasp the concept and taken it one step further. Shinji was nothing if not a quick learner. After his training in the Bakusai Tenketsu, he had finally learned how to touch and control his chi. Though his control over it was still haphazard at best, it was still enough for him to wrap himself in a cloak of it for a few precious seconds. Combined with the silent movement training that they had to undergo for the Umisenken, this new technique was truly formidable. After experimenting with Ranma, they had discovered that this technique could effectively render a person completely invisible to the naked eye. This experimentation had then led to one of Shinji's most amusing of memories from that torture trip to the mountains; they had tested the technique by sneaking up on Happosai and scaring the crap out of him, the Grandmaster of the Muabetsu Kakuto Ryu!

It was with searing pride that Shinji tentatively named this technique the Tobiwashi Jutsu. He thought that it was a fitting name for his first original skill ever created.

Though he still hadn't tested it against cameras and surveillance videos, he was confident that it would work in much the same way.

_I'm definitely not looking forward to school later today_. Shinji shuddered violently at the feeling of impending doom that was descending into the pits of her stomach. _Kensuke is going to be showing whatever he managed to record to __**everyone**__, whether they want to see it or not. This is going to be a very bad day…especially when Asuka sees that tape!_

Shinji was no fool. He understood now that one of the reasons Asuka prided herself on her beauty was because she was very scared inside. And though Shinji didn't really care too much about what she looked like in either of her forms, male or female, he knew all too well that his female side was positively gorgeous for her age…and she had a much bigger bust size that Asuka did. _That_ was what was _really_ going to get the Red Devil incensed!

Glancing at her watch, Shinji realized that the time was about seven-ten. If she didn't hurry, she wasn't going to have enough time to make breakfast, much less take a quick shower! Bounding with all her strength and speed, she bounced from one rooftop to the next back towards the apartment.

In her haste, she failed to notice to that she'd somehow acquired a certain camera-wielding boy's attentions again. And he was eagerly filming her trek across the rooftops until she was lost from sight.

* * *

Coming up: More of TS's excellent writing, whenever I get around to posting it. My portion will be coming soon!


	3. Chapter 2

Yep, I have Chapter Two here for you, and given a shot, Chapter Three is next!

This is also the last pure chapter that is truly TS-sama's. From here, we have about half a chapter more, and then I get my turn at the wheel.

Remember, I have my own style and opinion of what has happened to Shinji. While I will comport my image to TS-sama's, there are occasions where I see a different angle. Remember, Ranma wasn't the only person who had an effect on Ranma. The entire NWC minus Ukyo had touched him in some way, shape or form, some more than others. What you see here is the beginning. I'm going to take things just a little further.

In other news, I'm working on the next chapter to my DC/R cross. I have research, I have a point where I'm taking it from, and I have a sequence of events that will get me through a few more chapters. TTMA is almost ready for another chapter, though the last scene is fighting me. And TTWPL . . . is on a momentary hiatus until I catch up with my tougher projects. I know what the plan is for the next few chapters there. Give me a week or two, and I can get it done!

Oh, and this isn't even my work. It is being posted with the permission of TS-sama. I own nothing. I don't even have a job because nobody is hiring (sob)! Don't sue me, 'cause I have nothing to give!

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

**Saotome Shinji: Final Duty**  
By: Tellemicus Sundance  
_Chapter 3: __Blending In_

"What is your final analysis, Doctor?" Gendo demanded from where he sat behind his desk. He was still quite weary after that latest meeting with the SEELE, who were demanding answers for questions that he himself was still waiting on. His supposed 'superiors' were subtly getting more and more difficult to control with each Angel that was defeated. But he was a patient man, if nothing else.

Standing a respectful distance from the man, Ritsuko held out a folder for him. As he took the documents out of the folder and began looking over them, she decided to speak her opinion. "The Third Child seems to have undergone a profound psychological metamorphosis, in addition to acquiring a higher degree of body mass from the muscle growth that has occurred. Though I have been unable to determine the exact causes of these changes, it would appear to be a direct result of his time within the Angel."

Gendo's expression was carefully schooled to show not even the slightest bit of emotion. He was carefully reading the Doctor's report of Shinji's sudden growth in muscle tissue, and presumably body strength.

"How has he been able to acquire such a metamorphosis in so short a time, Doctor?" he asked, turning to the next page with the information of Shinji's explanation.

"I have been unable to determine the answer to that question, Sir," Ritsuko said frowning slightly, deeply annoyed with herself. "But the Third Child's report of being trapped within an illusion does pose some interesting possibilities by itself."

Gendo's facial control slipped slightly and allowed a frown to cross his lips as he read the report. The brat's story was _ridiculous_…yet somehow intriguing. Transported to another dimension, trained to be a top-notch martial artist, recovering Unit 01 from a heavily guarded military base with only one companion, teleporting himself back Tokyo-3 by the use of a _magic_ mirror?

"Did you do a thorough search of his possessions when he was recovered?" Gendo demanded, reviewing the report for any kind of discrepancies.

"Yes sir," Ritsuko confirmed, nodding her head in affirmation. "All we were able to determine were that his clothing was imported from China, prior Second Impact. There were a few pre-Second Impact yen pieces in his pockets as well. And I had several tests done on that mirror that he mentions. I was unable to pick up any kind of detectable energies within it, Angel or otherwise. I returned it to Shinji."

"I want it confiscated immediately!" Gendo snapped, glaring at Ritsuko for her mistake. "That mirror is an object that could've potentially been created by Leliel, as it was not in the Third Child's possession prior to his capture. Scan it again!"

Caught slightly by surprise, Ritsuko blinked slightly before snapping out a sharp, "Yes, sir!"

"You're dismissed, Doctor," Gendo said, turning his chair around so he could better read the report. If the good doctor had tried to make any conversation, he didn't notice due to his interest in reading the finer details of the report and weighing the potential possibilities in his mind.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

"What the hell are you doing up there?" the fiery-haired girl demanded, glancing suspiciously at her companion.

"Balance training," Shinji answered without a second thought, completely ignoring the stares of that he was attracting from passing pedestrians and cars.

Indeed, he was walking calmly along the top of a rickety old fence, hands thrust into his pockets as he stared with an unfocused gaze ahead of him. Muttering quietly under his breath, he said, "I can't allow myself to go _soft…_not now that I'm back here."

With that thought in mind, Shinji felt a sudden burst of inspiration. He had long ago mastered balance training; why not try something to make it more challenging? Smiling slightly, he quickly inverted himself so that he now was walking across the fence on his hands. This was much more challenging since he'd never tried it before.

"Will you _stop_ showing off and walk on the street _like a normal person?_" Asuka yelled hotly, feeling a sense of inferiority as she watched the boy out of the corner of her eye. She couldn't do that if her life depended on it!

"But I'm not showing off, Asuka-chan!" Shinji said, throwing her a quick smile before concentrating on his walk again. "Besides, this is much more interesting than walking to school."

"So, you want fun eh?" Asuka demanded as her anger and jealousy rising astronomically. Stooping down, she grabbed some discarded soda cans and hurled them at Shinji. Caught by surprise, the pair of cans hit him, one even smashing into the side of his face.

The unexpected attack completely threw Shinji's equilibrium out the window. He toppled over the opposite of the fence, only just preventing himself from falling into the canal below by steeling his grip on the fence. Asuka momentarily relished the expression of unconditional fear on his face as he stared down towards the canal under him. _That_ was the Shinji she remembered.

"How was that for fun?" Asuka asked, smirking conceitedly at Shinji as he turned his attention to her.

"…Actually, that wasn't too bad," Shinji answered, a relieved but clearly strained smile pulling across his face. "A little more warning would've been appreciated, though!"

"What are you talking about?" Asuka snapped, as she turned and started walking back towards school again.

"The more challenging the training is, the more the fighter can improve his skills," Shinji said. He was still wearing that smile on his face as he climbed back onto the top of the fence and resumed his earlier hand-walking training.

"You are such a show-off!" Asuka growled, irritated that he didn't catch her hint and _stopped_ showing her up! "I hate you."

"Now that's not nice, Asuka," the boy said, a whine almost making its way into his voice. Reaching the end of the fence as they approached an intersection, Shinji easily flipped down to the street and walked next to Asuka in order to properly cross it.

The Red Devil only snorted in response, and turned her divine attention to anywhere but the boy next to her. Not a word was spoken between the two as Shinji continued his new balance training all the way to school.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Stepping back slightly, Shinji felt as though he were being examined with a microscope from several overly curious scientists. It didn't help that he was blushing brightly from embarrassment or that he had a headache quickly growing. And what was the reason for this?

When he and Asuka had arrived at the classroom and were walking inside, he had paused to stare into the room. He was rapidly familiarizing himself with all his old classmates, putting names to faces he'd not seen in almost nine months. What kind of surprised him was that one or two of his classmates seemed to look like some of his classmates from Furinkan High!

Suitably distracted, Shinji failed to realize that he was lingering in the doorway or that he was blocking someone from entering. And since class was about to start, it was entirely expected that she would speak out to request that he allowed her entry. Because he had been trained to be a top-notch martial artist and had gained vast new physical strength, he could very easily punch a hole through a solid brick wall without too much pain. And because he was feeling extremely tense (despite the façade of confidence and cheerfulness he put on) about being back in Tokyo-3, he was a wired bundle of nerves. His response to the girl's inquiry was-

"YIAHHHH!"

-to jump several feet into the air, hit his head on the ceiling (cracking the tiles in the process), and grab/cling to the nearby door on the way down hard enough to send noticeable cracks through the wood. With his heart roaring in his eardrums and adrenaline gushing through his panicked body, he turned wide eyes down to the girl who'd managed to sneak up on him.

Ayanami Rei just stared back at him with an almost questioning gaze in her red eyes.

Quickly gathering his wits, Shinji dropped to the floor and tenderly rubbed his head where he'd hit the ceiling. "G-Gomennasai, Ayanami-san…you _surprised_ me."

Normally, only dedicated martial artists like the Saotomes, the Amazons, and Happosai could sneak up on him. But even they had enough respect for him to not do it on purpose (too often). Though for some reason, Doctor Tofu seemed to regularly and consistently do that to him, despite not being anywhere near the caliber of the others. And there were several cracks in his clinic ceiling to act as memorials to some of the more _extreme_ times too. The fact that Rei had been able to sneak up on him (even if he was lost in thought) was both surprising that it happened but quite very believable due to how quiet she usually was.

Nodding understandingly, Rei walked through the now accessible doorway just as the final bell rang. As he was turning to follow her to his usual desk, Shinji finally became aware that the entire class was staring openly at him and it didn't take him long to figure out why.

His face flushed even more as their gazes turned even more incredulous. '_What would Ranma do?'_ was the first thought that ran through his mind. Either he would just ignore their stares (since he'd likely be quite accustomed to them) or he'd soak up all the attention he could get because he was feeling especially arrogant or attention-starved at the time. Needless to say, Shinji chose the former as he resolutely forced his embarrassment down. Taking his seat quickly, the teacher finally entered the classroom.

Hikari was fast to jump back into her role as class representative.

"Psst! Shinji!" a familiar voice hissed quietly to the side. It was his old friend, Suzuhara Toji. "You okay? _What the hell was what?_ You broke the damn ceiling!"

An embarrassed smile quickly spread across the boy's face as he tenderly rubbed his head. "Yeah, Rei just scared me for a moment."

Just staring for a moment in exasperated confusion, Toji shook his head. He could interrogate his friend later; right now he had more _important_ news to pass on. "Anyway, have you heard the latest news?" he hissed, quickly getting to the point since he knew their conversation would be noticed any moment. "There's a new girl in town, and she's fricking _hot!_"

"R-Really?" Shinji's stutter didn't even draw Toji's attention to the boy's sudden unease.

"Yeah! Kensuke's taped her!" There was a peculiar gleam in the jock's eye that Shinji had seen all-too-often back in Furinkan. Back then it had been quite unsettling, but seeing it in Toji's eyes now made that feeling be replaced with extreme annoyance and disgust. "You _have_ to see it during-"

"Suzuhara-san!" the teacher spoke up loudly, causing the boy to stumble to his feet immediately. "Would you care to repeat what I just told the class?"

From that point the rest of the morning went fairly normal. That by itself was a very unique experience for Shinji. Though he was never a student to tone out a teacher (although this one seemed eternally trapped on the subject of Second Impact), Shinji found himself continuously staring out the windows. The back of his mind kept telling him to prepare for some sudden crash, splash of water, or loud yells of anger or surprise (not necessarily in that order either). Something that would momentarily disrupt the class. Something that would lead to an all-too-familiar chaos. Something that would mark the presence of his brother being within the walls of the building.

Something…_Ranma-ish_.

But his brother didn't exist here.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

"AH! Lunch time!" Toji cried out in joy as the bell rang loudly, signaling the start of his most favorite part of the school day.

Even taking into account his martial arts-enhanced reflexes, Shinji was still surprised at how quickly Toji had been able to whip out a large bag of various snack foods from his desk. For half a second, it wasn't Toji he was watching. He saw his brother smiling happily as he started his lunch from under the tree that he, Shinji, and Akane had always eaten under. And for that half second, an ever-rising sense of longing washed over Shinji.

He wanted his brother (and family) back.

Shaking himself out of his reverie, he dove into his own lunch. Occupied with eating his own lunch, Shinji failed to notice that he had unknowingly drawn the attention of a certain young girl. Ayanami Rei was an extremely level-headed, painfully humble, and calm individual; to say she was introspective would've been a gross understatement in most scenarios. But, as the pilot of Evangelion Unit 00, she was also extremely observant and very smart.

Though her priorities were dictated by the man she had once viewed as a god, Rei knew that her mentor would appreciate the observations she was making currently. As the pilot of Unit 00, it could arguably be stated that she was the leader of the Three Children since she was the first chosen. And despite Unit 01's impressive accomplishments and Unit 02's raw but untamable talent, her calm objective-oriented mind should've qualified her as being the most logical choice as the team leader (not that she'd ever mention it, if only to prevent Mount Asuka's eruption). It could be considered a duty of hers to ensure the safety and health of her fellow Eva pilots.

Also, Rei had also found herself feeling strangely drawn to the Third Child. He had an attitude of hesitancy and confusion that was used to hide an overpowering fear and sadness that had been firmly anchored to his soul. His awkward compassion and timid generosity had been sources of annoyance for her in the beginning of their acquaintance. But as she slowly grew to know him better, she had seen glimpses of his courage, loyalty, and determination while they battled the Angels. He was unlike nearly every other boy she had ever met. Rei had slowly come to appreciate him for his virtues.

These were the primary factors for why Rei had been discretely watching him throughout the school day thus far. She knew that he had changed from his time in Liliel, the Twelfth Angel. He had grown up. Gone was the look of concealed fear he always had on his face, no longer did he stare aimlessly at the ground due to his shame and self-disgust, and his entire posture had been completely altered. The Third Child held himself with confidence and humility, he was now able to meet other's gazes without faltering, and there seemed to be an almost restless energy about him.

Ikari Shinji could now hardly seem to sit still for more than twenty seconds. It was like he was expecting something to happen. It was clear that his anticipation of this mysterious event was the focal point of his anxiety. He also expressed various mental symptoms. He showed a definite lack of interest in all the subjects that were covered in class, a consistent tendency to drift off into thought, or for certain instances he'd even freeze and stare as though he were reliving a powerful memory.

Commander Ikari had yet to give her any information pertaining to Shinji's condition after he'd regained consciousness. From what little she'd been able to learn by overhearing gossip between Doctor Akagi and Lieutenant Maya yesterday before they'd retired for the evening, Shinji apparently had endured some kind of extremely potent illusion created by Liliel. The changes to Shinji's physique and psyche were clearly phenomenal, and rather concerning. One major concern that she'd overheard Akagi-san mention was the possibility that the Angel had tampered with Shinji's mind, possibly turning him into an enemy.

Rei felt it her duty to verify if such a concern warranted any merit. If Shinji had somehow become their enemy through mental-manipulation, she'd be forced to execute him. But the Shinji that she was seeing didn't seem to be suffering any kind of mental contamination from the Angel. However, all that her simple observations could tell her was that his posture and attention span in class had drastically changed.

She could only know for certain if she could have a serious conversation with him. But such a conversation didn't seem too likely at the moment. The boy was engaged in a lively conversation with his two friends, both of which were quite literally drooling over the camcorder that Aida-san was holding. Shinji seemed to be forcing himself to watch what was being shown, yet there was a suspicious amount of red on his cheeks and a conspicuous lack of surprise on his face as he watched the movie.

These observations could only mean one thing to Rei: Shinji already knew what was on that tape, yet he was trying to pretend that he didn't. Why would he wish to do such a thing?

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

"I can't believe this!" Toji said loudly, snatching the camera from Kensuke's hands and rewinding the footage.

As he watched the gorgeous bluehead dance through a martial arts form, he couldn't help but be idly reminded of Evangelion Unit 00. Her hair color was almost an exact shade as the blue armor on that robot. And as an aspiring athlete with hopes of one day partaking in the next Olympics, he found himself completely awed by the mysterious girl's blatant display of skill, speed, and strength. How could she make jumping ten to fifteen feet in the air look so easy?

But then she somehow seemed to notice her audience. As soon as she'd landed safely, she…_vanished_, completely and utterly vanished. There was not even a dust trail to hint at her using some form of super speed like the superheroes in many manga and comics around the world. And then the camera showed her jumping across buildings' rooftops with all the ease of running down the street. How the hell could a person, let alone a _girl_, do all that?

"I know!" Kensuke said, nodding knowingly. "Even though I was standing right there, it seems like I was dreaming! That girl was easily the sexiest I've ever seen! I'll bet she'll even give Misato a run for her money in a few years!"

Normally such a comment would've been considered blasphemy of the worst sort to Toji, but this time he was forced to agree with the bespectacled teenager. Even with how blurry the image was, it was obvious that the girl was going to be quite the looker when she matured, if that already generous figure was _any_ indication.

"I still can't believe this!" Toji repeated. "How did you get so lucky?"

"Yeah, I'm kind of curious myself," Shinji piped up from where he glancing over Toji's shoulders with apparent interest. "What were you doing there at that time in the morning?"

"What are you talking about?" Kensuke asked, trying to act insulted. "I was trying to get to the harbor to see if that new battleship-"

"Of course," Toji interrupted as he handed the camera into Shinji's hands. "We should've figured: Kensuke and the military, how predictable."

"What?" Kensuke demanded, genuinely insulted now. "What's that suppose to mean?"

"Only that you want to become a fricking Special Forces agent, right?" Toji asked, smirking in enjoyment at winding his friend up.

"What's wrong with that?" Kensuke demanded, not even trying to deny Toji's accusation.

"Just that you're more interested in the military than girls," Shinji said from where he was standing to the side, holding the camera up towards the two boys. "…_usually_, anyway."

Seeing them turn their attentions to him, Shinji smiled a smile that he learned from Ranma. A smile that was all innocence and sugar on top, usually used to distract the opponent in confusion for a few moments. It was also to distract Kensuke from realizing that he was currently taping over what little footage of his girl half that he had.

It took a moment for the two boys to realize that he'd made a joke. And another moment before Kensuke noticed the camera's red recording light was on.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Kensuke cried out in horror as he grabbed the camera back.

"Sorry," Shinji said, a small smile still on his lips. "I just wanted to catch some of the good times we're sharing…in case something bad happens."

"LOOK WHAT YOU DID!" Kensuke yelled scandalized as he was hurriedly reviewing the tape, but it was too late.. _All_ of the footage had been ruined! "_WHY_ DID YOU HAVE TO DO THAT TO _THIS PART OF THE TAPE!_"

"I-I guess I wasn't paying attention," Shinji answered weakly, surprised at Kensuke's outburst.

"What are you stooges yelling about now?" Asuka demanded as she marched imperiously over to them, apparently already finished with her meal.

"Nothing a _girl_ like you would care about," Toji answered immediately, crossing his arms defiantly over his chest as he took what he thought was a manly posture.

"I think I'd be _very_ interested in what you're screaming about!" Asuka snapped, glaring heatedly at Toji. "Especially when your annoying voices are ruining my hard-earned meal!"

"'Hard-earned?'" Toji repeated, snorting at the girl's obvious lie. "Don't you mean the meal that you made Shinji cook for you, since you wouldn't know your way around a kitchen?"

As Asuka let out a dangerous growl, increasing the power of the glare she was sending Toji, Shinji smiled contentedly. This was the type of chaos he remembered before meeting Ranma.

"Actually, I didn't make anything this morning," he admitted, cutting off the melee of verbal assaults that were about to begin. "I was a little late waking up, so Asuka-chan and Misato had to go without breakfast. So it's not really Asuka's fault that her tempers a lot more…sensitive today."

"Shut up, Shinji!" Asuka cried, trying to slap him while conveniently forgetting what had happened last time she hit him.

Reclining his head back slightly as his hand shot up, Shinji easily caught Asuka's hand by the wrist. "There's no need to get violent, Asuka-chan. I was just telling the truth."

"Let go of me, you jerk!" Asuka ordered as she tried to break Shinji's grip on her.

Kicking out, her shin impacted heavily on Shinji's as he instantly shifted to defend himself. Like the last time she hit him, it felt as though she tried to kick a boulder! Seeing the pained expression growing in her eyes, Shinji finally released her to allow her to tend to her wounded pride. "I hope that hitting me isn't going to become a new habit of yours, Asuka-chan."

As the girl snorted angrily before marching away, the two boys was visibly gawking at Shinji—no, this imposter who _looked_ like Shinji! Since when did Ikari Shinji, pilot of Eva Unit 01 and the biggest wuss they'd likely ever meet in their lives, start growing something looked strongly like a backbone?

"Okay, who are you and what have you done with Shinji?" Toji asked, eyes narrowing as he tried to scrutinize the imposter before him with the precision of an electron-microscope. Too bad he had not even the faintest idea on how to even work one of those…

Noticing his friends' stares, Shinji's hand awkwardly climbed up to rub the back of his neck. That was a habit he picked up while traveling with Ranma when the boy had tried to iron out his old habit of clenching his fists when agitated. For the most part, they had been success, except for times of extreme distress. Chuckling quietly as he felt a small bead of sweat roll down his neck, he said, "Let's just say recently I've had…some interesting revelations about quite a few things."

"Do tell!" Kensuke ordered, interest washing away his weariness like a tsunami.

"Later," Shinji said, turning back to his remaining lunch. "It's a long story."

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Misato couldn't help but let out a small sigh of relief when she _finally_ found her way to Central Dogma. Like usual, she had gotten lost when she entered the underground compound and spent the next forty minutes trying to find her way around before Ritsuko somehow located her and guided her back the right way. Honestly, was it too much to ask for Nerv to put those little 'You-Are-Here' maps every once in a while?

"So, how's Shinji?" Ritsuko asked in an almost pleasant tone from where she was reviewing the data reports that Maya had brought her. "Experiencing any weird side-effects from the other day?"

Chuckling slightly, Misato replied, "Well, nothing worth throwing him on a lab table for dissection, if you know what I mean."

"No, I don't," Ritsuko said, looking sharply at the purple-haired woman. "This is a very serious matter, Misato. That boy was exposed to an Angel, actually making mental contact with one. There is a very real possibility that the Angel could've tampered with his mind while he was in that illusion. With the data we managed to collect on Shinji so far, the Magi estimate there is a 79.8% chance that he was…adversely affected."

"Are you trying to say that we need to start treating Shinji like an enemy until he's somehow proven innocent?" Misato demanded in a cold tone, glaring at her college friend.

"Maybe not so much as an enemy, but more like a _possible_ spy," Ritsuko corrected. She blatantly ignored Misato's now murderous glare.

"That's ridiculous!" the Major snapped, feeling enraged for Shinji's sake. "Fine, I admit that Shinji does seem a little different but to treat him like a spy—"

"What do you mean by 'different'?" Ritsuko interrupted, looking up from her work once again. There was an inquisitive gleam to her gaze.

"Uh—just that—um," caught slightly off-guard from the interruption, Misato only floundered for a moment. "He actually was participating in a conversation last night. That and the bathroom incident—_don't look at me like that!_"

"How can I not?" the inquisitive doctor asked, her accusing glare lessening slightly. "What happened then?"

"Nothing really," Misato said, calming down as she remembered Asuka barging in on Shinji. "Asuka and I were starting on dinner when we heard a girl scream from the bathroom after Shinji left to clean up."

"There was a girl in your bathroom with Shinji?" Ritsuko asked. The tone of her voice made it perfectly clear that she was having a tough time believing the Major's story.

Growling audibly in aggravation of her friend's disbelieving tone, Misato forcefully tried to restrain her rising temper. "No, I _said_ that we _heard_ a _girl's—_scream from the bathroom—shortly after Shinji left…By the time Asuka kicked the door open, there was only Shinji there but…"

"But what?" Ritsuko asked, reluctantly curious.

"I know this'll sound weird," Misato admitted, glancing to the side in her own uncertainty. "But it looked almost like he was almost scared of being seen…like he was trying to hide something from us. He kept blushing every time he'd denied it when he was arguing with Asuka."

_That does sound…interesting_, Ritsuko mentally concluded. Taking this piece of information and storing it in her memory for later examination, she changed the subject of the conversation. "Speaking of Shinji acting weird, something's been brought to my attention. Remember that mirror that Shinji had with him when he came back?"

"Yeah, kind of," Misato admitted. At the time she'd been more interested in getting Shinji out of the entry plug, to Nerv Medical, and frequently checking up on his recovery and the many other duties of her job. "An old antique-looking thing, right?"

Rolling her eyes at Misato's extremely vague description of the object, Ritsuko held in her initial comment and nodded. "Yes, I had returned it to Shinji after doing some tests on it. But the Commander believes that it may be a potentially dangerous artifact if we leave near the Third Child. So, I'm asking you to confiscate it and bring it back here for further examination."

"Are you kidding me?" Misato asked in a low, disbelieving tone.

"No, I'm not," the good doctor answered sternly. "If not for the fact that you personally were supervising him while off-duty, I'd have been forced to call Section 2 in to ransack Shinji's home until they found it…And if you don't agree to this, I'm afraid that that's exactly what's going to happen. This is a _very_ serious matter."

"This…this is so…ridiculous!" the purple-haired Major declared after finally recovering from her surprise.

"Be that as it may," Ritsuko countered. "So does Shinji seeming to feel the need to hide potentially dangerous secrets from us, Misato."

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"Bakusai Tenketsu!" Shinji barked as he thrust his hand forward. Channeling a small burst of chi into the tip of his finger as it struck the pressure point he was aiming for, he watched in satisfaction as the brick wall exploded in a violent display of dust and debris. Turning around, he was completely unable to prevent grinning broadly at the stupefied and shocked expressions of his two friends.

It was slightly after four in the afternoon. After school had let out for the day, Shinji had pulled Toji and Kensuke out to one of the decrepit warehouses of Tokyo-3, far from the usual places that Section 2 watched over. It was there that he told them an edited version of his misadventures in an alternate dimension, hiding his water-based curse of course. To say that the boys believed him would've been an incredible stretch of reality, and worth questioning their sanity. But after demonstrating some of his newfound strength and martial arts techniques, namely the more dramatic ones, they seemed to believe his tale much more easily.

"How did you do that!" Kensuke demanded immediately. Immediately he tried to reach for his camcorder, only to remember that not only had Shinji made him take a vow of honor to never tell anyone but had also taken his camera for good measure. Instead, he rushed forward to examine what was left of the broken wall. "How could you possibly cause a brick wall to explode just by touching it? Such a thing goes against the very nature of physics and science!"

"Well there's a secret to it, naturally," Shinji said, smiling once again as he nervously rubbed his neck. Earning both boys' attention, he simply said, "I used my chi to 'see' the pressure points of the wall and overloaded one of them."

"Chi?" both boys repeated disbelievingly.

"But there's _no such thing_ as chi!" Kensuke said, frowning deeply. His tone easily implied that he thought that Shinji wasn't telling him the full truth. Surely he wasn't! Chi was just a made-up energy that was usually used by superheroes in comic books!

Rather than contradict the boy, Shinji focused his attention of the section of wall next to him. With only the barest of concentration and a small jab of his finger, he blew out that piece of brick and concrete as well. Turning to his friend, he merely lifted one of his eyebrows, daring him to question him again.

"How did you learn to do that?" Toji finally asked, his mind already whirling with possibilities of what he could accomplish if he could do such a thing. And the look on the Devil's face when he did it! Priceless!

Smiling a deceivingly serene smile, Shinji turned to the Suzuhara and said, "Tying myself up in a rope and swinging my body into boulders until Ifigured out how to use my chi at least halfway consciously."

"_WHAT?_" his friends yelled, disbelief and horror filling their minds as they tried to imagine going through such a gruesome training regime. Needless to say, they couldn't prevent themselves from wincing in pain from just the _thought_ of it.

"You're nuts!" Toji finally said after he'd recovered from his shock. "I know you were a little weird _before_, but now…You _and_ your brother are both psychos!"

Cocking his slightly to side in a semi-contemplative state, a smirk crossed Shinji's face. "Yeah, that's the spirit! You just may survive this training after all!"

"What?" both boys yelped in surprise, backing away fearfully.

"Why do you think I told you guys all this?" Shinji asked, secretly enjoying the torture he was putting them through. "I made a promise to Ranma to teach my friends the Musabetsu Kakuto Ryu when I got back home."

"You're joking, right?" Kensuke asked, ducking behind Toji to use the jock as a human shield.

"Hm…" Shinji said thoughtfully, eyeing them with a scrutinizing gaze. "I think I'll start with chopstick-fu with you guys. You better get yourselves: we start first thing in the morning tomorrow!"

"You're joking, right?" Kensuke begged loudly.

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Whistling a quiet tune, Shinji walked into the apartment he shared with Misato and Asuka. It was still a little early for Misato to be home from Nerv yet and Asuka had clean-up duty at school with Hikari today. The afternoon sun was slowly lowering towards the horizon, gradually changing from a pleasant golden color to a strong orange-red color. It was a very pretty sight to behold.

After he'd finished teasing Toji and Kensuke with the possibility that he'd forcefully teach them the Saotome martial arts, Shinji had made a beeline for the apartment. He had a fair amount of homework from school and there were still some chores he needed do around the apartment if he wanted to save himself from Asuka's bitching later.

Upon entering the apartment, Shinji immediately threw his homework on the table and went searching for the cleaning supplies. He'd rather get the chores that used water done quickly, so he'd not have to face Asuka or Misato. He just didn't feel ready for that confrontation yet. While he was in the process of filling a bucket with some water to scrub to the floor and windows with, he was suddenly startled by a loud, "Wark!"

Even though he'd only flinched, that slight movement had been more than enough to cause the water inside the bucket to jostle around enough to splash him. Turning and glaring slightly in accusation at the curious hot-springs penguin, Shinji let out a small sigh of annoyance.

"Look what you made me do, Penpen," Shinji said as she turned off the coldwater and faced the surprised penguin. "You went and made me get wet! Please don't do that again."

"Wark?" Penpen asked, tilting his head to the side in confusion as he continued to stare up at the curvaceous young woman that Shinji had turned into.

As if understanding the penguin's question, Shinji knelt down and beckoned the creature closer. Scratching Penpen's head gently, she said, "If you promise to not tell Misato or Asuka about this, I'll be sure to make you some very special tuna and sushi for dinner for the next two weeks. How's that sound?"

"Wark?" Penpen gawked, staring up at the girl with wide eyes. Instantly he bowed as low as he could manage before hurrying back into his refrigerator, a noticeable skip of anticipation in his step.

Sighing to herself as she quickly went back to work, Shinji muttered to herself, "This is going to bite in the ass later…I can feel it."

On the other side of world, a single mistake which would soon result in catastrophic consequences had just been made.

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	4. Chapter 4

I do not own Ranma or Evangelion. I don't even own this chapter! No suing, unless you want to take some of my debt. To be quite honest, that's all I have left in this world . . . that, and my rum (ah Rum, you would never desert me, would you?).

This is the last bit of writing TS ever did for this story. I didn't feel it was right not to post it, despite the fact it is only about five pages long. The fifth page is mostly TS starting a summary of things he wanted to get in. Trust me, I will try and fit most of it in, though I will edit things to my standards (suffice to say, the computers aren't exactly as reliable as testing a pilot in the Eva itself).

Enjoy, and then jump to the next chapter to check out my first bit of work on this story.

* * *

**Saotome Shinji: Final Duty**  
By: Tellemicus Sundance  
_Chapter 4: Cracking Mirrors_

**Midnight  
Nerv Central**

Total darkness surrounded her, very appropriate given the painfully late hour in the evening that it was. The only source of light in the all-consuming blackness was that with which she was standing in. She hated being in this situation, but there was no other choice in the matter. The Instrumentality Committee could be extremely intimidating for many people face alone. It was something Misato never wanted to expose the Children to if she had the option.

"_Major Katsuragi_," said one of the committee members in a loud, clear voice. "_Do you still refuse us to question the pilot of Eva Unit 01, the only person who was __**directly**__ involved in the incident?_"

"Yes sir," Misato answered immediately and with the crisp discipline of all military officers. "It is my belief that Shinji may still be very unstable, emotionally and psychologically. And that bringing him here, into this situation, would be very unwise at the current time."

"_Then, as his proxy, let us ask you, Major Katsuragi_," another committee member said.

"_What was the Angel hoping to accomplish by putting the pilot into such a powerful illusion?_" a third member demanded.

"I am unable to answer that question, sir," Misato answered. "But in my professional opinion, I believe that the Angel was merely trying to understand how a human thinks and reacts to the situations that the Third Child had been put under."

"_**How**__ did the pilot acquire such a drastic change in his physical body if it was only his mind that was being tampered with?_" asked the second.

"There have thus far been no signs that his memory _or_ mind was being controlled or reprogrammed," Misato answered vehemently. "And in all likelihood, the reason that Pilot Ikari's body has been altered could've simply been the Angel's attempt at maintaining the _authenticity_ of the illusion."

The fourth member snorted quietly before saying, "_Then are you agreeing that the items that were in the Third Child's possession when he finally was freed were also created by the Twelfth Angel to 'maintain the authenticity'?_"

"That is the only reasonable explanation, sir," Misato answered neutrally. "However, scans of these items have shown no threatening energies, Angel or otherwise, within any of them."

"_And what of this mirror that Pilot Ikari had reported had brought him out of the illusion?_" asked the fifth member of the group. "_Could it somehow be true that it does possess some kind of unique power to create illusions?_"

"I am unable to answer to that question, sir," Misato said, keeping her annoyance very carefully hidden. "However, there were no detected energies within the mirror when we confiscated it from the Third Child. But we are attempting to initiate much more thorough examinations of it as soon as possible."

"_A new factor has been revealed in this incident_," said the first member, finally taking control of the meeting. "_That the Angel tried to take the Eva into itself. Is there any possibility that this aspect could be linked to the predicted Thirteenth Angel, and all Angels thereafter?_"

Boy was she relieved to get off _that_ subject! "Based on the patterns thus far, there seems to be no systematic organization among the Angels."

"_Yes!_" said the second member. "_They have worked independently, thus far_."

"What do you mean, sir?" she asked. There was something ominous in that statement, she just didn't _what_.

"_You may not ask questions_," the first member snapped, earning a quick apology from the Major. "_That will be all. Dismissed._"

It was with unexplainable relief that Misato left the meeting, fully intent to get some much needed eight hours of sleep.

Once the light that surrounded Misato disappeared and the connection was severed, the Committee turned its attention to Commander Ikari who had sat in the darkness silently throughout the entire interrogation. Like any good lapdog, he patiently waited for his 'masters' to ask his opinion in the matter.

"The Angels are clearly getting much more intelligent," he said, hiding his frown behind his interlaced hands. "The remaining Angels will most assuredly be the most difficult we'll ever face."

"_And_ _what of the pilot?_" asked the fourth member. "_If the boy truly did undergo some yet unnoticed brainwashing by Leliel, he could be a potentially __**dangerous**__ enemy_."

"If the boy has been effected in such a way," Ikari answered with his voice cold and his eyes hard. "he will be terminated immediately. SEELE's scenario will not be delayed."

"_For your sake, it had better not be_," SEELE 01growled haughtily.

**Next morning**

**Ikari/Katsuragi/Soryu Residence**

Yawning loudly as she stumbled her way towards the refrigerator and her precious jet-fuel known as Yebisu beer, Misato spotted Shinji in his customary place at the stove. He was clearly cooking an extremely appetizing western breakfast of pancakes, bacon and sausages, and hash brown potatoes. If the smell was anything to go by, the meal was likely to be ready within only a few short minutes.

"G'morning, Shinji-kun," Misato managed to squeeze out between her yawns as she finally arrived at her destination.

"Good morning, Misato," Shinji greeted, smiling pleasantly at her. "Had a long night again?"

Rather than answer a rhetorical question, Misato grabbed several beer cans, popped open one of her heavenly brews, and chugged it down as though her life depended on it. Downing half the can within several seconds, Misato's body suddenly seemed to come alive, bursting with boundless energy. "AHH! THAT HIT THE SPOT!"

Shinji seemed to roll his eyes in exasperation at her usual antics before returning to his earlier work. Misato watched from behind her beverage as she attempted to finish it as the boy expertly lifted the frying pan and flipped the pancakes on. Normally she knew that he'd never do such a thing for fear of causing a mess. Not only did he just successfully perform the act, but he'd done with four pancakes and landed each of them safely. Since when did he start doing that?

As she finished her drink and quickly opened another, Misato was fast to notice something else about Shinji since she was staring. His whole body was flushed red and covered in a thin sheen of sweat. In fact even his clothes, which were a peculiar set of a blue Chinese-styled long-sleeved shirt and slightly baggy black sweatpants, were soaked in sweat. When did he get a new change of clothing?

"Shinji-kun," she said, speaking between swallows. "Akagi-san has scheduled a harmonics test for you this evening at nineteen-hundred hours. Don't be late, okay?"

"Ah, sure thing, Misato," Shinji replied, only a small trace of anxiety in his voice.

The rest of breakfast proceeded more or less along the same way that it always had. Asuka finally making her appearance when the meal was nearly finished, as well as her normal complaints and accusations at Shinji. Shinji just smiled and offered some small remarks to contrary or such while Misato just observed the pair with a slight amount of jealousy. Ah, the joys of being a teenager…

After a quick shower and changing into his school uniform, Shinji and Asuka had finally left for school. Upon leaving her own bedroom fully dressed in her own uniform, Misato stopped in front of Shinji's room and let out a sigh of annoyance, resolve, and reluctance. Pushing the door open, she stepped into Shinji's domain.

**Lunchtime**

**School, classroom 2-A**

Hikari, as class representative, had a duty to all her classmates to watch over them. Not only to keep them from causing a ruckus in class and to pay attention, but to help them in their homework and try to boost their morale and grade point average. On occasion she even had to bring a student some work that they'd wished for some reason, namely due to an unexpected illness. But what she was doing now was not necessarily apart of those duties.

Out of the corner of her eye, she watched as Ikari Shinji continued about his normal business during the free period for lunch. He, Suzuhara Toji, and Aida Kensuke were all huddled together over an overly-large portion of rice and fried vegetables and meat. Apparently Shinji had roped them into some kind of eating contest that involved them having to steal food from the others' plates but to protect their own as well. While Kensuke was on purely defensive, Toji was clearly trying his best to pierce Shinji's defenses and reclaim what small portions of his lunch that the pilot had already stolen. Shinji, from the looks of it, was clearly enjoying himself as he randomly attacked either of his friends' plates and nabbed their food with relative ease.

But where was he putting all that food that he was stealing from them? There was no way he could possibly eat all of it. It just wasn't natural! And from the looks of it, Toji and Kensuke were clearly very hungry as well and were doing their utmost best to deter the Ikari's chopsticks.

Before she knew it, the contest (if that's what it was) was over with all the food picked clean. Shinji sat back with a content sigh and a small grin as he watched his friends eating what was left of their own food, which wasn't much at all.

"Chikuso, Ikari!" Toji grumbled loudly. "You didn't have to steal so much of my food! You could've gone for Kensuke instead!"

"Hey!" the bespectacled boy cried in outrage.

"That wouldn't have been very fair, Toji-san," Shinji remarked idly, speaking for his sputtering friend. "Besides, you were doing a much better job of protecting your plate. It's only right that I focused more on you. Plus, I think Kensuke deserves a break after what happened at breakfast."

As the boys descended into a carefree argument, Hikari couldn't help but stare yet again at the Ikari boy. He was so different from what he had been only a few short days ago. Far more laid back and relaxed with an ever-present smile on his face; it was like he'd been replaced by a new person altogether! And that wasn't taking into account his new appearance. Hikari, like all other girls in the class, had been undeniably drawn to the boy after his little incident the previous day; when he'd jumped so high he'd hit the ceiling and then cracked the door, all with that same fluid ease of a martial artist. The fact that his clothing did little to hide new muscles also helped the hormones in the girls to cause their imaginations to begin running wild.

Hikari knew that as a pilot of Evangelion Unit 01, Shinji was bound to strict confidentiality about certain issues. And while he did not surrender information about what had caused him to change so drastically, she could only guess that it due to some kind of exposure to the last Angel. This lack of information about what had happened to him caused Hikari's curiosity to rise. She just had to find out what happened! That was why she was now considering changing who was on bulletin duty this week…

**Shortly after school,**

**School, classroom 2-A**

Humming quietly to himself as he went about his duties, Shinji pondered a couple of questions to himself regarding himself. Thermos and clothing.

Growing concerned with Shinji's increasing displays of ability and disobedience towards the Commander, Akagi orders more examinations done on Shinji (both for Eva compatibility and brainwashing). It is discovered that Shinji's sync ratio has drastically fallen, down to 21% (_barely_ able to pilot it).

Asuka grows extremely irritable (jealous) after watching how easily Nabiki beat the thieves on the news

SEELE decide to give the pilot of the transport coordinates that will cause the plane to fly on an intercept course with the 13th Angel so that the Angel will fuse with the Eva Unit 03. This is done as a way of 'testing' Shinji.

Eva Unit 03 is sent to Japan

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(Author's Note)

Namida Muyo—No need for tears


	5. Chapter 5Written by Yours Truly!

I don't have a job right now because nobody wants to hire someone without cashier training, and who can only work for a few months. If I owned either Ranma or Evangelion, do you really think I'd be having these problems right now?

Sorry for the dry spell, but I don't see it ending unless I can find something to fill my time and give me money. It took me a few months just to get this out.

For the record, the first part of this was sent to Sundance back when he was still writing, but he lost inspiration before he could finish it. I've fleshed it out some more, but it was a group effort. The second half (from Hikari getting properly introduced to Shinji-chan down) is all mine. For the record, I will be changing things up, so don't expect the next Angel for a couple more chapters. Got to set things up, you know.

Sorry for all you Asuka-bashers, but I will try and make the Red Devil human. I don't have it in me to bash such a psychologically messed up girl. She will get her dues, but in the end, she will get some form of happy ending.

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Hikari stood in the hall, holding a mop bucket that had long since turned cold. It was about half an hour after classes had ended for the day, and she was attempting to steel herself for Phase Two of her plan.

Her target was in the classroom, working on the usual clean up duties by himself. Ikari Shinji had been out of class for about a week after the last Angel incident, but when he came back, it was like he was gone for over a year. Gone was the timid child that he had been known as, and in his place was a young man, with a confidence level that no one would have originally thought possible for him. He was even messing around with Touji and Kensuke, instead of allowing them to mess with him!

_Asuka doesn't want to talk about it, and trying to ask Ayanami-san about what happened to Ikari-san isn't giving me anything, so why not go for the source?_, thought the young class rep. So with that plan in mind, she had made a point to arrange for him to clean the classroom with her. However, now that everything had been set up, she was now having second thoughts.

It wasn't just simple cold feet, either. She had left the classroom to get some mop water for the floor, and when she came back, she found that the young Ikari was doing things that she never thought possible! Some of the desks in the room were older models, weighing more than enough to give even the two strongest girls in the class trouble moving them all to the side. And yet, here Shinji was, lifting them WITH ONLY ONE HAND!

It was almost surreal, the way he went about it. In fact, he was just about finished with everything but the mopping, and she had yet to do anything to help out!

_It's now or never; I can't let him do all the work now, can I?_ With that thought, the brown haired girl gathered her frayed nerves, picked up the bucket and opened the door.

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It's funny how dimension travel can affect things like a Jusenkyo curse.

You see, all curses have a primary effect, which is the obvious sign of a curse. However, what few people realize is that there are also secondary effects that are also part of some curses. The curses of Jusenkyo are no different. The primary effect is obvious: the victim of the curse changes forms when splashed by water of different temperature ranges.

The secondary effect, on the other hand, is only realized once the victim has had the curse for a few days. Simply, the curses of Jusenkyo WANT their victims to be in their cursed forms as much as possible, therefore making its owner a water magnet.

However, if the victim should travel to another plane of existence, such as a different dimension, then the curse would reset itself for a set amount of time, allowing the victim at least a week or two of accidental splash free days. The problem is, once the secondary effect of the curse reasserts itself, if would do so in the worst way possible.

Which is why, right after Horaki Hikari stepped in to the room, holding a bucket full of cold, soapy water, it happened . . .

The floor was completely dry, and there was nothing on it that could logically cause a person to fall. However, that didn't stop the class rep from stumbling. Shinji, seeing this moved to help.

He forgot about the bucket, until it was too late.

When Hikari looked up, instead of the brown haired young man, she found herself held in the arms of a young girl. Her hair was blue, almost like Ayanami's, but it wasn't cut like her hair. Nor did this girl have red eyes. Instead, chestnut brown eyes looked down at her. Hikari also couldn't help but note that the girl's chest was a lot bigger than hers. In fact, were it not for the fact the both girls looked about the same size height-wise, the class rep would have sworn that she was older than her.

The most astonishing thing out of all this, however, was not the fact that she was being helped up by a mysterious girl. It was more along the lines of four major observations that she had made during and after the fall:

The girl was wearing the exact same clothes as Shinji was, just before she tripped

The girl was soaking wet from the mop water

She could have sworn that she saw Shinji grab her, just before the soapy water fell on him.

Shinji had vanished.

Meanwhile Shinji was busy making sure that Hikari didn't hurt herself, and couldn't help but worry over the fact that the brown haired girl was more or less showing the signs of shock.

_Ah, man, and I was going to go out and train some more, too!_, the boy turned girl thought, then _What is she staring at; it's like she hasn't seen a girls breasts yet . . . wait, water . . . breasts . . . Ah SHIT!_

"Um, Hikari, I think I can explain . . . " she started.

Hikari flinched, and then jumped up, looking around the room.

"Who are you? What happened to Shinji? And how do you know my name?"

The blue haired girl couldn't help but wince, but she stood her ground, gave a nervous smile, and said, "Um, it's me, Shinji. Sorry about this . . . "

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"So let me get this straight," Hikari said with a sigh, "the last Angel through you into another world, where you not only picked up some crazy martial arts skills, you also got a Chinese curse that turns you into a girl? Do you know how crazy that sounds?"

"And yet," Shinji said with a sigh, balancing on a leaning chair while physically female, "I'm standing right in front of you."

The class president felt her eyes twitch, "I know." Looking closer, she asked, "Does anyone else know of this?"

The boy-turned-girl shrugged awkwardly, "The higher ups think that I think the Angel trapped me in some mental construct or something, Toji and Kensuke know that I've picked up some fighting abilities. You are the only one who know about the curse, though Kensuke has a picture of me training in a park when he took an early morning walk."

"I see," the true girl in the room stated. She then blinked, "You know, you kind of look like Rei. What's with that?"

Shinji grimaced. Despite her earlier observations concerning her female form (right after coming out of the Nannichuan), she had later discovered that her hair was darker than Rei's. Her eyes were also darker, more of a chestnut brown than the bright, vibrant red of the First Child's irises. There were also minor differences in bust size, height, and vocal tones, but those weren't discovered until he came back and saw Rei again.

"I spoke to Elder Ku Lon about that back in the other world. Apparently the Spring of Drowned Girl favors the mother's genes, just as the Spring of Drowned Boy favors the father's."

"So . . . "

"I don't look like Rei, WE look like my mother."

Hikari gasped, "What? But how . . ."

"My running theory is that when my mom died, my father snapped. He might have had someone run some genetic experiment on me, but it failed. After he got rid of me, they did it on Rei, along with something extra to make her look like my mom." At Hikari's stunned look, she shrugged, "I ran through a bunch of scenarios with Nabiki, and we came up with some odd coincidences, plus it explains the blue hair, especially if what he did only works on girls. Ikari Gendo is working on something behind the scenes, and considering how he messed me and Rei up, I wouldn't say it's for the good of mankind."

"How he messed with you and Rei?" Hikari asked.

"Asuka says a lot of things, but one thing she said about me before the twelfth Angel had a lot of truth in it," Shinji said softly, "I had the spine of a sea cucumber before I met Ranma. He taught me how to be strong, how to defend myself. He taught me how stand up for myself. It may have been a few months, but I know that I'm not the old me anymore, that's for sure."

"As for Rei," Shinji said with a frown, "Gendo raised her. I wouldn't be surprised to find that she was kept in a cage for most of her life. When I first met her, she had the emotional range of a rock. I tried to help her, but I was too caught up in my own insecurities to do much. He was manipulating her from the start, and he set me up so that he could do the same to me. To be honest, Asuka is probably the only one he hasn't broken."

Hikari was horrified, but not enough to think about her best friend, "Actually . . ."

"What?"

The brunette hesitated, and then replied, "It's nothing, just something my older sister said to me a while ago about Asuka . . . She's studying psychology, and she made this comment that I just kind of forgot about . . ."

The bluenette frowned, "Talk to her about it; the more we know, the better chance I have of finding out what's going on."

"I will. So what do we do now?"

Hikari blushed when Shinji raised a delicate eyebrow at the word 'we', but the Third Child decided not to comment on it. "Right now, we need to finish cleaning the class room, so I can change back and go cook something for Asuka and Misato. After that, the best plan I have is to tail some of the goons from Section Three to see if they do something suspicious. I also need to go see Rei and work on getting her out of her shell more. The more independent she is, the less the old man can use her."

Hikari nodded at this, but had to know something first, "What do you usually wear when you train like this anyways? You can't exactly wear what you have on right now."

"Why not?" Shinji asked, only to have Hikari point at her still wet and transparent shirt. "Oh," she blushed, "I don't really have anything else to wear . . ."

"That settles it: this Saturday, I'm taking you shopping for some girl clothes!"

"What?" Shinji gaped, turning wild eyes on the Horaki girl.

She wasn't amused, "I don't know a lot about fighting, but I do know you won't be able to pull off undercover work while dressed in that, and I will not have you showing off accidentally. And don't tell me that you're busy; Asuka's already told me that she's planning on sleeping in that day!"

Shinji found herself quailing at her glare, "Y-yes ma'am!" Hopping down from where she was perched, she coughed and said, "Well, um . . . let's get to work . . ."

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As Shinji walked out the door, leaving Hikari to attend to her club functions, he was surprised to find someone waiting for him. "Ikari-kun."

He was surprised, though not terribly so. "You know, we've known each other long enough for you to call me Shinji, Rei-chan," he said with a smirk.

Rei started, unused to the surprising amount of confidence that the Third Child had gained, "Ika . . . Shinji-kun . . ." She pauses for a moment, trying to figure out why it felt so much more comfortable to say the Third's given name, and why she felt a surge of warmth in her chest when he said hers.

His smirk changed to a brilliant smile, and she felt that warmth intensify somewhat, "So you're concerned about me too?"

Rei had to force down her surprise at his blunt observation, "Yes."

He nodded, "Asuka's apparently said enough to get Hikari-san worried as well." When she glanced over in confusion, he chuckled, "She cornered me while we were cleaning the classroom, intent on figuring me out."

"Did you tell her? About the . . .", Rei struggled to recall how the report she had 'independently reviewed' had phrased it and how it was summarized when she did some more research, ". . . dream world?"

Shinji paused at looked closely at her, causing a sudden, almost searing heat to rise in her cheeks. When she was forced to look away to comport herself, he chuckled, started walking in the direction of the Katsuragi residence, and motioned for her to follow, "Yeah, I told her a little bit about it. Funny thing about dreams though . . ."

Rei blinked at his statement, and waited for him to continue. He looked over at her, yet she felt as if he was seeing something else instead. Suddenly, his eyes focused, catching her in the intensity of his vibrant blue eyes, "Sometimes, they can be more vivid than you can imagine . . ."

For the first time, Rei wished she herself could know what he meant by that. Before meeting the Third Child, her dreams had been nonsensical, stuff to be ignored and forgotten, only allowed to her because the older Doctor Akagi deemed it too dangerous to alter her so that she couldn't dream. Of the few she did remember from back then, they all conformed to the same pattern: she was at the Commander's side, as they led the world to its destiny.

After the defeat of the Fifth Angel, however, things changed. Suddenly, she dreamt of Shinji, looking down at her. Sometimes, he just stood there, crying with relief and joy, and others . . . she shivered and resisted the urge to bring her fingers to her lips.

Coming back to herself, she was surprised to find Shinji's eyes only centimeters from her own, "Are you OK, Rei-chan?"

She started, stepping back, "I-I am fine," she stuttered.

Shinji nodded, unsure about that, and then frowned, "If you're sure. Still, would you like to come over to Misato's place? If you're unwell, I'd rather you were around someone who could take care of you," . . . _Rather than leave you lying sick in that apartment_, he left unsaid.

That place should have been condemned years ago.

Rei was about to decline, but hesitated, "That . . . would be satisfactory," she whispered.

Shinji's smile was, she reflected, even better than before, "Great, and maybe if you're up to it, you can help me cook dinner!"

Her eyes widened slightly, suddenly uneasy about staying that long, "Wouldn't Major Katsuragi or Pilot Soryu object to that?"

"Nah, Misato wouldn't mind a bit," he replied, "and as for Asuka, it may be Misato's apartment, but it's my kitchen-in matters of dinner and who can enjoy it, what I say, goes!"

She started at this, but as Shinji grabbed her hand and gently lead her to his home, she couldn't help but blush and reply, "Yes, Shinji-kun."

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Asuka walked into the kitchen and stared. Having lived with a warm water penguin that lived in a modified freezer, an alcoholic woman with exhibitionist tendencies who was in charge of fighting the Angels, and Shinji, she had seen quite a bit. This however, threw her for a loop, "What is SHE doing here?"

Shinji grunted as he stirred the fettuccini, "What does it look like?"

Asuka stared at the sight of the First Child methodically slicing a loaf of Italian Bread, each slice being expertly and equally sliced. "I can see what she's doing, Third."

"Then why did you ask?"

Asuka growled at him, causing him to roll his eyes at the Second Child, "Down girl, or you won't be able to taste the red velvet cake that I made for dessert."

The redhead froze. On one hand, Shinji was treating her like a dog! A freaking dog! How DARE he?

On the other hand, did she really want to miss out on a Shinji-baked red velvet cake? Before, he'd never had the guts to even imply something like that, but now, she had to wonder . . .

When Shinji turned around and looked her in the eyes, brandishing a large wooden spoon, she had her answer . . . and something else. Her face heated up in embarrassment as a different warmth settled into her stomach. Barely stifling a shriek, Asuka stomped out of the kitchen to save face, only to pause in confusion when she overheard . . .

"Red velvet cake?" Rei's voice questioned.

"Trust me, Rei-chan, you'll love it!"

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Asuka and Misato stared at the blue haired First Child as she moaned in delight, sensuously licking her spoon clean.

It was like she had never eaten Red Velvet Cake before . . . but that was ridiculous, right?

Shinji just smiled at the table, "You two can take a bite any time now."

Misato nodded absently before digging in with gusto, while Asuka just snorted at him, marveling as Rei rapturously took another bite, "That's not normal."

"Considering how my father seems to lack a sense of taste, it wouldn't surprise me if this was her first piece of cake ever," the young master of Anything Goes Baking told the redhead, grinning as Rei ignored him for the slice of heaven in front of her. His grin widened into a smirk as Asuka choked back a giggle, scowled at Shinji, and then started digging in herself.

It was good. In fact, good was an understatement-this was the best cake she ever had!

Shinji grinned. It was a little known fact back in Nerima, but Tendo Kimiko, the dearly missed matriarch of the Tendo clan, had been a world class baker and cook back in her day. Before she passed on, she had left the basics to her oldest daughter, along with all of the recipes she had ever discovered and/or used. Kasumi focused more on the cooking aspect, as she wanted to spend her free time studying medicine. However, she was more than willing to let Shinji read the Baking books, and even try 'a few' recipes.

What she didn't know was that baking was her mother's passion. She had perfected it into a form of art, and had even gone so far as to make a fighting style based off of it. The end result was that Shinji, between his minor talents at cooking and martial arts, had soaked up everything like a sponge, and had even turned around and taught Kasumi a few tricks that her mother had never got around to teaching!

As Rei and Asuka came down off the cake induced high, he chuckled and asked Misato, who had long built up a tolerance to this kind of pleasure through her decadent lifestyle, "So, you think they like it?"

"Like it?" Misato snorted, grinning, "I think Ayanami just had an orgasm because of it!"

Shinji glanced at said girl, who was shivering uncontrollably, her consciousness lost in pleasure, spoon still clutched tightly in her lips. To Misato's eternal surprise, he smirked, "That's odd; normally it's the Devil's Food Cake that does it."

He wasn't kidding. The first time he made it, Ranma-chan had crept in and had stolen a slice. One bite later, and the poor redheaded aqua-transsexual was on the floor, moaning and making a mess on the floor. Fortunately, only Kasumi was home, and Ranma had sworn them to secrecy about doing such a thing . . . though first they had to figure out what was wrong. Considering how Shinji-chan herself had ended up on the floor a minute later in the same state after taking a bite, she was more than willing to comply as long as Ranma kept his mouth shut as well.

Kasumi kept laughing on and off that night, and both Saotome teens kept giving the cake an uneasy look.

Neither the redhead nor the bluenette noticed this, however, too busy enjoying the slice of nirvana right in front of them.

Later that night, Shinji crashed on the couch. Rei, unsure of what had come over her during dessert, was easily convinced to stay the night. After assuring Asuka that he'd spend the night on the couch, she barely gave a fight. Misato kept the lewd jokes to a minimum when Shinji casually dropped where the First Child was being housed. Misato was drunk, but not drunk enough to realize that one of her front line soldiers and charges was living in the worst part of the slums.

As Shinji stretched out and closed his eyes, he spied PenPen, keeping watch over the room. The penguin had already taken to watching over 'The Giver of Delicious Fish', ensuring that nothing could accidentally splash him. In fact, he had even stepped in the way of Misato, who had almost tripped and sprayed Shinji with her cold Yesibu.

PenPen had already proven that he was willing to go to assist his new lord and master. How far the penguin was willing to go, however, was anyone's guess.

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NEXT UP: The one thing all men dread: clothes shopping! An incident during this draws the Third Child's alter ego into the public eye, and Asuka gets irritated. Touji and Kensuke improve slightly, and the Fourth Child gets a heads up. All this and more (or less; kind of hard to size future chapters up, don't ya know!) coming up!


	6. Chapter 6

Wow, I've been busy. Moving to Pharmacy School in three days can be a pain. Still, two chapters at once is a good thing, right?

I own nothing. In fact, I am so far in the whole it isn't even funny. Sue, and I'll put you in the hole with me, got it?

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"You have GOT to be kidding me? That is physically impossible!" Hikari exclaimed. The class rep had managed to drag the Ikari scion out to the mall in his alternate form, allowing the shapely bluenette to borrow a plain shirt and skirt combo. Shinji had kept the complaints to a minimum, remembering the onetime Ranma-chan commented on how Akane's clothes fit on her during laundry day.

"Hey, you don't believe that my baking is that good?" she pouted, pulling off an unbelievably feminine look that made the Class Rep sweat drop.

"There is no way that a piece of cake could make a girl orgasm, even one as closeted as Ayanami!"

"Then you won't object to joining us for dinner tonight and finding out," at the brunette's startled look, she added, "I'm making Devil's Food Cake."

Hikari opened and closed her mouth several times, and then exclaimed, "But I couldn't! I mean, I wouldn't want to intrude . . . "

"You wouldn't be. In fact, if tonight's plan is to work, you'll need to stay the night."

"Wh-what plan?" Hikari choked out, both terrified and intrigued.

"You are going to come over and ask Asuka if you could have a sleepover at our place. I'll be inviting Rei, so you will need to keep Asuka down until dessert. When everyone retires for the night, I'll go to my room, sneak out an hour later, and then go demolish Rei's apartment building," she succinctly explained.

Her hand snapped out just in time to keep Hikari from shouting and attracting attention; anticipating her complaint, she hissed, "Misato has already tried to use official channels to get her removed to a nicer area, but the Bastard King keeps blocking it. This way, he won't have any choice but to allow it. If I cause enough damage to the surrounding area, which is uninhabited (I've checked), then I may even get him to authorize her moving in with us."

Hikari glared at her, "Are you sure it's uninhabited?"

"The homeless population of Tokyo 3 dropped to near nothing after the first three battles," Shinji said darkly, "Section Two did the rest."

Hikari didn't know what to say about that, so she decided to step back and change the subject again. "You were only in that other world for nine months, right?"

"Yeah, what of it?"

"How did you master both martial arts and baking within that time?"

Shinji winced, "Technically, I'm not a master in either. To be a master in the Saotome Ryo, I'd have to beat Genma, which I haven't done yet. As for baking . . ."

Hikari noticed his hesitation, "Well?"

"Tendo Kimiko-san left five books of her notes and special recipes to her daughter Kasumi. Kasumi, having no time to pursue it, passed them on to me. The first book tells all about her basic techniques: using ki, special ingredients, and care to bring out the best in her baking. That I memorized right off the bat. The second and third books were her recipes, and I memorized about twenty recipes out of about five hundred. The last two . . . were her Ougis."

"Ougis?"

Shinji nodded solemnly, "Her special techniques. I didn't want Kasumi to know this, as she would feel honor-bound to take it up and toss her dreams away, but her mother's baking art is old. It was meant to be passed down from mother to daughter, as it had been for generations. There are recipes for pastries that can give a man super strength, unlimited stamina, the ability to read the future . . . it's powerful. However, the ki control requirements are insane. I'm nowhere near that level. I'd be considered the art's master because I'm its only living practitioner, but I'm still a student myself."

"Wow . . . " Hikari was gobsmacked, "so all of these recipes were passed down from ancient times?"

She shook her head, "Only the Ougis. A true master or mistress in the baking arts would be required to create her own baking legacy. There were a few that came from the distant past, but most of the third book had recipes inspired by the other countries, added during and after the Occupation. At this point, the only recipe that is truly mine is one for chocolate chip cookies, and I'm still working on it."

"Still, that's pretty impressive," Hikari noted.

Shinji nodded, "Which is why you are going to try the highest recipe I have mastered tonight."

Hikari eeped, "Do I really have to?"

"Are you still planning on dragging me into the ladies' underwear section?"

The class rep scowled, "It's not proper for you to be running around without proper underwear and support."

"Then you have to."

The middle Horaki daughter winced at that curt remark, but let it be, hoping that her friend and shopping companion would forget about it later.

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Hikari was starting to realize that this shopping trip was going to be much different from what she was used to. It started off simple: whenever she shopped, she went from the basics on up: in other words, Shinji-chan soon found herself in Victoria Secrets.

Hikari, despite being rather conservative at school, had a flair for sheer and lacy panties and bras that would have Happosai jumping for joy. She did, however, understand that the boy-turned-girl would enjoy simpler items. So after teasing her with a few choice selections, they left the store with several plain white panties and several stretchy tank tops that could also pass inspection on Shinji-kun.

That's when things got odd. As they left, a bright red Shinji-chan spotted a few displays in a Gothic clothing shop. In the end, rather than taking the neo-girl into several choice stores and using it to tease her mercilessly, she ended up standing next to a bluenette girl decked out in black Jeans with chains, a tight black rock T-shirt, two spiked bracelets . . . and a spiked dog collar.

"Why are you dressing like this again? I thought you weren't one for female fashion," the class rep asked awkwardly.

"It's funny that you haven't asked where all the money we're using is coming from," Shinji-chan quipped, out of the blue.

"Huh?" Hikari blinked, stunned at the odd 'evasion', "Asuka and I use her NERV card whenever we go shopping . . . "

"And the apparently male Eva pilot would be buying women's clothes because . . . "

Hikari paled, having forgotten all about that little detail, "Um . . . "

Shinji took pity on her, "While scouting Rei's neighborhood, I found a small fighting circuit. Basically, I've made about five hundred-thousand yen from jumping in and kicking ass. It's not quite illegal, and I didn't maim or kill anybody, but it's not something normal people from the good side of town would want to see."

As Hikari nodded, half worried for her new friend and half ashamed that she had neglected to think of how to pay for their purchases, she went on, "Anyways, a lot of the people there were dressed like this, and there were a fair amount of girls with wild hair colors who looked kind of like this. I figured if somebody from school recognizes you and wonders who I am, I could pass as your gothic punk rocker cousin or something."

The pigtailed brunette just stared at her, "You've really thought this out, haven't you?"

She shrugged, "Ranma-nii-san and Genma gave me martial arts, Kasumi gave me baking, and Nabiki gave me her planning skills. I guess you could say everyone in Nerima gave me something." She then grabbed Hikari's hands and walked her towards one of the more popular clothing stores, "Now we've bought everything I need, and all you've got is underwear. I've still got plenty of cash, so why don't we get you a few things . . . "

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Several hours later, both girls were sitting at the mall's dining area, eating. Hikari was in shopping heaven; Shinji-chan really did have a lot of money, and was quite willing to let her use it. It also helped that the bluenette was far more open to new things, allowing Hikari to purchase several mangas that she was into (Asuka never saw the point in the odd books/comics, so she had to hide them whenever she came over), as well as a couple of cosplay costumes from specialty stores (she was a closet otaku, it seemed).

After thanking Shinji profusely, the two of them settled down to eat a late lunch. Hikari blushed at how Shinji-chan got them a massive discount by use of her feminine wiles, and then marveled at how her friend's food politely vanished in record time.

"Hey Horaki!"

And then it all came crumbling down. Hikari paled and winced, having forgotten why she usually went shopping with Asuka.

Shinji-chan noted two large girls walking towards their table. Both were decked out in ripped black Jean pants and black biker jackets. The one on the left sported short blonde hair, while her compatriot had spiked black hair. Neither of them looked like they were here for a friendly chat.

"Who are they?" Shinji asked the pale girl.

Hikari winced again, "Mika and Yue. My sister Nozomi got into a fight with their kid brother and they've been harassing me ever since. They aren't stupid enough to mess with Section Two, which is why I usually shop with Asuka here."

"Want me to take care of them?"

"No!" the class rep hissed, "Last time I tried to do anything about them, Nozomi came home with a black eye and a broken ankle!"

"Then on to plan B then," the bluenette chirped. Grabbing as many bags as she could in one hand, she grabbed her half full plate with the other and flung it at the two girls.

Hikari didn't see what happened after that, as her friend had grabbed then rest of the bags, shouldered them, and then yanked her away at a fast pace. They were soon a hall away, in front of a small bank housed within the shopping mall.

Shinji let the girl go and glanced backwards to ensure that they weren't followed, "We lost them."

"What . . . did . . . you . . . do . . . that . . . for?" Hikari wheezed.

"I just made myself a target, one that those two will regret picking on," the neo punk girl replied.

The brunette nodded, recalling her friend's martial arts skills. She was about to say something when the wall beside the bank exploded in fire.

**BOOM!**

Hikari was pushed back by Shinji, who started in shock at the devastation while she covered her friend. As the two girls stood there four thugs in black masks ran out of the bank. One of them noticed the two girls, and tapped on the closest thug's shoulder. Shinji couldn't make out most of the resulting argument, but she did get the last bit.

"Kill all witnesses!"

As the second thug raised his gun on them, the bluenette burst into action, sprinting with surprising speed towards him. Before he could shoot, she was there, slamming a front kick into his chest while knocking the gun out of his hands.

The other two gunmen yelped and tried to aim at her, but she was then in the air, slamming her booted heels into one's nose breaking it. The other got a round kick to the side of his head. Both were knocked out.

The first gunman, the leader of the group, stood there, stunned as his partners went down, hard. When the punk fighter came after him, he screamed and ran. He didn't get far before she landed on his back, driving his chin into the ground and his mind into sweet unconsciousness.

Hikari blinked at how the neogirl just took out four gunmen out without an issue, "Wow, you really are good."

Shinji-chan just pouted, "You mean you really didn't believe me Hikari-chan?"

Hikari giggled, "Oh hush, its one thing to hear about, but something else to see in action, you know."

The two girls turned only to notice Mika and Yue, covered in food, staring at Shinji as if they had seen a ghost. Hikari flinched, but Shinji just walked over to them, putting a bit of sway into her step. Only a foot away from the blonde's face, Shinji placed her left hand on her hip and held the right one in front of her breasts.

"The name's Horaki Nabiki, punk fighter extraordinaire. Now," she curled her right hand into a fist, cracking it as she did so, "what's this I hear about you messing with my two favorite cousins?"

The two bullies fainted, wetting themselves in the process.

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Two hours later, Hikari and a now male Shinji walked towards the latter's apartment, the former still in a jubilant mood, "I mean, all you did was crack your fist, and they wet themselves! Not only will they not mess with me, they can't even show their faces at the mall anymore!"

"And with these pictures," Shinji waved a disposable camera in the air, "we can ensure that they won't be able to leave their houses without abject humiliation."

Both teens laughed, having stashed their shopping purchases at Hikari's house and exchanged them for bags full of groceries. The laughing stopped, however, when they walked into the apartment and heard . . .

"It appears that this mysterious girl managed to beat down four of the notorious Mikazuki brothers, who have been wanted for murder, rape, robbery, and arson for the last seven years. Noted for their habit of killing any and all witnesses, this brave, mysterious young woman managed to take them down without even breaking a sweat."

Asuka was staring at the TV as it replayed security footage of the fight earlier. Thankfully, the camera was fixed, so it did not get a shot of Hikari. Beside her, PenPen sat, beer in hand. Noticing the return of the Bringer of Delicious Fish, he warked, raising his beer in a toast.

"We would like our audience to be on the look out for this man, Mikasuki Sanada. He is the de facto leader of the gang, and is notorious for the rape and murder of the daughters of several up and coming officers and detectives."

A rugged and scarred face appeared on screen, a sneer etched just underneath half of a nose. Hikari gasped in horror, alerting the redhead on the couch to their presence. "Oh hi Hikari, what are you doing here?"

"I ran into her while I was shopping," Shinji replied for the brunette, who was still coming to terms with just who they were nearly killed by, "Since I invited Rei over again for dinner, I thought it might be nice to have one of your friends over as well."

"Ah . . . " To be honest, Asuka wasn't sure what to say about that. Say what you will about the new and improved Ikari Shinji, but he confused the hell out of her.

Shinji left the two girls to their talk and walked into the kitchen. After double-checking on the cake (which he had hidden in PenPen's mini fridge (he had to hide his beer somehow, or else Misato would have drank it all), he started on making eggplant parmesan.

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Five sat at the table that night, Rei having walked in and joined Shinji in the kitchen not half an hour after he returned. She helped him prepare the garlic bread, also freshly baked that morning.

Hikari had drawn Rei and Asuka into a conversation about a school report on economic policy (one of the few classes they had that didn't involve lectures on the pre-SI era) and had quickly gotten the fiery redhead and subtle bluenette into a 'polite' debate about the guidelines. Asuka was passionate about the topic, and had quickly stated her position, but Rei had a habit of poking holes into her logic, forcing Asuka to come up with a better argument. Hikari kept it polite, drawing Rei to speak more and keeping

Asuka from biting the bluenette's head off.

"Hey Third, what do you think about it?" the Second Child finally asked, having argued for keeping the government out of the economy. Rei (who was supporting active government intervention) said nothing, but also looked his way.

Shinji, realizing that this was their way of seeing who he agreed with, shrugged, "I'm for the middle path. Somebody needs to keep an eye on quality and illegal operations, but there are too many restrictions as it is. If you can't predict what the economy will do before it happens with perfect accuracy, how can you expect to control it?

Asuka scowled at his deflection, but Rei simply nodded, seeing his point. Misato just rolled her eyes, as she wasn't much of an economist in the first place.

PenPen said nothing, having deflected two cups of water and a can of beer from ruining his master's night. The bird was still wet, but that delicious fish was worth it!

Shinji, having seen that everyone else was just about done eating, grinned and left the table. When he returned, he had to hide his grin at Asuka's sudden blush, Hikari's pale face, and Rei's attentive stare. Placing the Devil's Food Cake on the table, he smiled Kasumi's smile no. 12, used the last time Kasumi had tried her hand at making this particular cake, "Anyone want dessert?"

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Hikari came to slowly the next morning, her head only slightly fuzzy. The time between dessert and bedtime was blurry, but Shinji was right-it was orgasmic.

She sat up, only to nearly jump as she heard a rather feminine moan from behind her. She glanced over to find Asuka, topless but partially covered by her white sheets. Her lips were slightly parted, her face was flushed, and Hikari could smell her arousal in the air.

It wasn't just Asuka's arousal though, and Hikari was horrified to note that, though her pajamas were completely on, they were soaked through.

She nearly sprinted out of the room, toiletries and change of clothes in hand, only to bump into Shinji-chan. The boy turned girl was wearing a white apron, and was covered with flour and dough. Hikari flushed brightly, but the busty bluenette just waved it off and told her, "I have some danish and cinnamon rolls in the oven. If you can keep an eye on them, I'll be out of the shower in five minutes. I'd offer you first dibs, but I'm expecting company soon, and I really need to be male for when it arrives."

Hikari realized who he meant, so she didn't begrudge him the four and a half minutes he needed to take a shower, wrap himself in a robe, and swap places with her. Her shower, of course, was noticeably longer.

She came out, towel wrapped around her slim form, only to jump as a harsh rapping sound was heard on the front door. They knocked again, and Shinji walked out of the kitchen and went to answer it.

It was the Commander.

Ten minutes later, all six of them were sitting around the kitchen table. Asuka was dressed, but acted rather reticent, refusing to look at anyone. Rei was the same, but Hikari had noted how the quiet girl had blushed at seeing Shinji as she left her room (Gendo had already been sat down in the kitchen, so he didn't notice). She herself had quickly gotten over her earlier embarrassment, partly because he had brushed it off, and partly because she had found a sixth piece missing from the cake that morning.

Misato, however, was all business. "Is there a problem, Commander?" she nervously asked.

The man just gave her his patented stare, "The First Chld's residence collapsed this morning, destroying several neighboring buildings in the process."

Rei stiffened, concerned, as Hikari and Misato gasped and Asuka murmured "Mein Gott . . . "

Shinji was nonplussed, "I see."

"You aren't surprised?" the older Ikari noted placidly.

"I've seen the place before when I went to give Rei her new ID card, just before the Fifth Angel attacked. Place was a shithole, one that should have been torn down a decade ago." Shinji replied, matching his father glare for glare. The female in the room instinctively shivered.

Gendo finally nodded, "Ayanami stayed her last night."

"She was showing signs of a fever, and I wasn't about to let her return to that pitiful excuse for an apartment ill," Shinji replied, his face still sporting the glacial stare that mirrored his father's expression.

Again they glared at each other, and Hikari noted how Rei seemed to blush while looking out of the corner of her eye at the Third Child.

Suddenly, the man shifted uncomfortably, and then turned to Misato, "Would it be acceptable for Rei to be stationed here until new housing arrangements can be made?"

Misato jumped, "Um sure, I mean we don't have much room but . . . "

"I can sleep on the couch until larger accommodations can be supplied," Shinji supplied, "The building here is largely unoccupied, and there are twenty or so four bedroom apartments, one of which is only three doors down the hall. If NERV could supply the manpower to help us move, it would only take us a day to switch."

This caused Gendo to, surprisingly enough, blink, "You've researched this?"

The boy just smirked, "I considered moving into another apartment when Asuka came blitzing into our lives. Never got around to it, but I did do the research."

"What?" Asuka yelped, half furious, half stunned.

Shinji shrugged, "You slapped us for an accidental peek at your panties. I was reluctant to find out what you'd do if I accidentally walked in on you in the bath."

Asuka nodded, partially in shock that Shinji, even before his spine magically appeared, had enough motivation to look into something like that. Gendo's thoughts, however, were on something completely different.

Shinji had changed. His actions, thoughts, and behavior had changed radically, and that meant that his Plan had to change with him to encompass such alterations. Having Rei living with the Third Child would give her a point of observation, someone who could monitor the boy and give him important information.

"Then it is settled," the man intoned, "movers will be sent tomorrow morning to assist in the transfer. I will handle the paperwork." he noticed the astonished look on the faces of Major Katsuragi and the Second Child. His son's visage looked pleased, but that was partially expected.

He lacked the range of sight to see Rei's startled blush though.

It should be said that, while the Ice King of NERV had a good understanding of emotions and how to manipulate them, he had no idea that Rei was just now starting to develop them. Whether it was a boon or a curse would be anyone's guess.

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UP NEXT: The pilots and their guardians move. We flip over to school, where Horaki Nabiki has made a name for herself. Asuka finds herself confused on whether to erupt or vault on girl power. Enjoy!


End file.
